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Small businesses push back on Apple’s privacy changes around advertising

With iOS 14.5, Apple introduced its App Tracking Transparency to help users choose whether they wanted to be tracked or not by apps and advertisers. Ever since then, the company is making tons of privacy changes to ensure users have better control of their data.

With that, Facebook and other companies are losing money with their advertisement initiatives. But, apart from the big players, small businesses are also suffering from these changes, according to a new study.

The Financial Times notes that “many small companies which are reliant on online ads to attract new customers did not initially notice the full impact of Apple’s restriction until recent months.”

Analyzed data from 1,300 small businesses made by Varos, a data-sharing platform, shows that the cost to acquire new customers through online advertising is “significantly higher” this year than last, while revenue has also declined each month in the second quarter of 2022, leading to a 13% drop in June.

“I personally did not feel the impact of the Apple changes in 2021 as much as we are in 2022. This year is just brutal,” said Nadia Martinez, founder of Kallie, a handcrafted shoes company in California that she launched out of her laundry room in 2014. “Ads have become more expensive, we have less access to data, and they aren’t as effective as they used to be,” she said.

The publication says that, on the other hand, Google Search and Amazon’s advertising business, which don’t rely on third-party tracking, boomed in the second quarter. Even Apple’s own ad business called Search Ads has also stolen market share.

Apple stated to The Financial Times that “a user’s data belongs to them and they should get to decide whether to share their data and with whom.”

That said, the publication continues to enumerate other small businesses that are still suffering from these changes, as you can read more about it here.

What do you think of Apple’s privacy changes and how they affect businesses? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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