Personalised ads and users’ privacy can coexist: Facebook

San Francisco, Oct 3 : At a time when data privacy has become a heated topic for the policy makers the world over, Facebook has said that it fundamentally disagrees with the underlying assumption that one cannot provide free, ad-supported services in a way that respects privacy and believes that personalised ads and privacy can coexist.
Some people believe that services that rely on personalised ads are inherently harmful — collecting more data than they need to provide value to people.
According to Facebook, this criticism is influencing policy proposals to limit personalized ads by restricting business-to-business data sharing and the use of decades-old web technologies, like cookies.
“The criticism is also informing changes that large platforms are making: Apple’s new iOS 14 policy is actually focused mainly on the use and sharing of data for personalised ads,” Erin Egan, VP and Chief Privacy Officer, Public Policy, said in a blog post on Friday.
“We believe it is possible to have privacy and a thriving, free, ad-supported Internet. We continue to believe personalised ads and privacy can coexist,” he stressed.
His remarks were first shared last month during a virtual discussion hosted by The Atlantic as part of The Atlantic Ideas Festival.