Mark Zuckerberg now says Facebook will benefit from iOS 14 privacy changes

After months of publicly attacking Apple’s planned changes to force companies and app developers to ask for users consent to track them across apps in iOS 14, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has now claimed that the social media company will actually benefit from the privacy changes.

Also read: Apple faces next round in French probe into iOS 14 overhaul

Participating in a room on popular voice chat application Clubhouse late on Thursday night, Zuckerberg said Facebook “will be able to manage through” the impending changes coming to the platform, according to a report by CNBC. These are the most positive statements on the changes to iOS, from the social networking giant and its CEO, who were reportedly preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple.

In what can only be described as a perfect U-turn, Zuckerberg also said that the company may be in a “stronger position” if Apple’s changes prompted more businesses to conduct commerce on the company’s platforms, according to the report. By making it harder for them to use their data to find the customers that would want to use their products outside the platform, these companies might prefer using Facebook and its apps, the CEO said.

These statements are in stark contrast to what Zuckerberg has been saying in opposition to the Cupertino company’s decision to make gaining users consent mandatory before they track them across apps. Facebook even took out full-page advertisements in newspapers like the New York Times and pinned its attack on the changes around how harmful it would be to small businesses.

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Facebook’s new Shops for its own app and on Instagram were launched last year to compensate for offline shopping that was virtually decimated by the novel coronavirus pandemic, which the company says has now reached the one million mark, with over 250 million active shoppers.