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Comment by mrweasel | Hacker News Reader

Right, if Apple is serious about privacy they should give Facebook and Snapchat two weeks to comply and then just yank the apps. No extention, no exception, comply or your app is killed.

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Clearly they're only serious about privacy until it could impact the bottom line. Despite the removals only helping users in the long run, removing two of their most popular apps (Snapchat is routinely #1 overall) would result in blowback towards Apple.

Yep, but let us also remind our self how stupid that line of argumentation is. Apple needs to let at least Facebook track us, if they don’t Apple will lose millions of customers. Even if Apple truly want to be serious regarding privacy, the majority of their user base won’t let them.

The vast majority of users don't really understand what's going on. All they'll know is that Apple pulled two apps that they use all the time, and they'll blame Apple for it. Yes, it's stupid, but it's the unfortunate reality.

I do use Snapchat, but I would 100% support Apple pulling the app until they fall in line with proper privacy controls. Unfortunately I'm in the minority, and both Apple and Snapchat know this.

yeah, it's pretty frustrating, regular people on the street and even semi-technical people I talk to say "Oh, Apple is just as bad as all the others"

They legitimately don't understand the difference between Facebook tracking every detail about your life and Apple having an account with your name on it

They seem serious about privacy but also their user experience. While that would be a win for privacy it would be a huge loss for most users. Apple also has a duty to prioritize user preferences.

I’m saying this as a non user of any of the apps listed (I only use HN, LinkedIn and Reddit personally)

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