Before the privacy dispute between Apple (AAPL-US) and Facebook (META-US), the two companies discussed “revenue-sharing agreements” such as the launch of ad-free, subscription-based social media, according to The Wall Street Journal Platform version.
According to reports, Apple negotiated various deals with Facebook between 2016 and 2018 in an attempt to get a slice of Facebook’s revenue.
Apple approached Facebook and said it wanted to “build a business together,” one of the ideas was to launch an ad-free subscription-based version of the Facebook app, which would allow Apple to capture 15% to 30% of Facebook’s revenue, the sources said.
Facebook decided against the subscription model, and after a string of controversies, Facebook eventually changed its name to Meta, moving the company in the direction of the metaverse.
In response to the above-mentioned rumors, an Apple spokesperson said in an interview that Apple will regularly meet with developers to “make suggestions, solve intractable problems, and help them continue to grow their business.”
In addition, the spokesperson said that Apple’s cooperation negotiations with Facebook have nothing to do with Apple’s eventual release of the privacy protection feature “App Tracking Transparency (ATT)”.
ATT can prevent iOS and iPadOS apps from secretly tracking users’ online whereabouts. This feature has seriously impacted Facebook’s advertising revenue, and Facebook has also launched a boycott against Apple’s ATT.
Overall, Facebook said the AT&T feature could hit revenue by as much as $10 billion in 2022.
While Apple’s own advertising business is also nascent and growing, the company also denies that its privacy features are designed to boost its own products.
