TikTok wants to keep tracking iPhone users with state-backed workaround

[Chewy_fox]

Some of China’s biggest technology companies, including ByteDance and Tencent, are testing a tool to bypass Apple’s new privacy rules and continue tracking iPhone users without their consent to serve them targeted mobile advertisements.

Apple is expected in the coming weeks to roll out changes it announced last June to iPhones that it says will give users more privacy. Until now, apps have been able to rely on Apple’s IDFA system to see who clicks on ads and which apps are downloaded.

In the future, they will have to ask permission to gather tracking data, a change that is expected to deal a multibillion-dollar bombshell to the online advertising industry and has been fought by Facebook, since most users are expected to decline to be tracked.

In response, the state-backed China Advertising Association, which has 2,000 members, has launched a new way to track and identify iPhone users called CAID, which is being widely tested by tech companies and advertisers in the country.

ByteDance, the owner of the social video app TikTok, referred to CAID in an 11-page guide to app developers obtained by the Financial Times, suggesting that advertisers “can use the CAID as a substitute if the user’s IDFA is unavailable.”

People close to Tencent and ByteDance confirmed the companies were testing the system, but both companies declined to comment.

Several efforts are under way to get around Apple’s rules, but CAID is the biggest challenge to them yet, and the iPhone maker declined to comment directly on it. But in a move that sets the stage for a major confrontation, Apple denied that it would grant any exceptions.

“The App Store terms and guidelines apply equally to all developers around the world, including Apple,” the company said. “We believe strongly that users should be asked for their permission before being tracked. Apps that are found to disregard the user’s choice will be rejected.”

One person familiar with the situation said Apple would be able to detect which apps use the new tool and block them from its App Store in China if it wanted to.

[Silent Watcher]

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