LinkedIn to stop collecting tracking data before Apple’s anti-tracking changes

LinkedIn has announced that it will stop collecting Advertising Identification Data (IDFA) on iOS. The move comes in the wake of Apple’s anti-tracking features expected to be rolled out to iOS users.

Linkedin said the move will affect its LinkedIn Audience Network (LAN), conversion tracking and corresponding audiences. The change will, however, have a limited impact on the performance of the campaign. LinkedIn added that it does not foresee any critical changes for the campaign on the platform.

The professional social networking platform also added that it will regularly reassess the IDFA data collection.

Our plan is to leverage our first-party data to help marketers reach the buyer groups, which are critical to B2B marketing success, so they can get better value for their campaigns across the board. LinkedIn locations, the company added.

LinkedIn’s response to Apple’s new privacy features is in stark contrast to that of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg argued that Apple’s move would hurt its revenues as well as the small and medium-sized businesses in its network. Facebook has also launched several campaigns against Apple’s anti-tracking features.

Apple can say they are doing this to help people, but the measures clearly follow their competitive interests, Zuckerberg said on an investor call in January this year.

Apple rejected Facebook’s arguments that the changes would hurt the online advertising industry. He also argued that users should have more control over their data.

When invasive tracking is your business model, you tend not to welcome transparency and customer choice, Craig Federighi, Apple’s chief software officer, said in December.

Regarding LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned company has now clarified its stance on Apple’s privacy features. Last year, LinkedIn and many other platforms attracted anger for secretly reading clipped data on iPhone. He also faced a lawsuit last year for gaining access to the severed data.