Apple Puts the Smackdown on Facebook Apps

Things are getting more heated between Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

 

According to TechCrunch, Facebook had long been paying people $20 a month to download an app called Facebook Research that essentially gave the company full access to collect data from their phones, including which websites they visited, the messages they sent, and all the apps they used.

 

However, the Facebook Research app wasn’t available from Apple’s App Store because Apple’s platform bans apps that collect that kind of data. Instead, it’s “sideloaded,” or installed through a separate, more technical process that big companies use to install apps intended for internal use.  But even though Apple was aware of this “side door system,” last week they decided, or realized, or… the Facebook Research app violated Apple’s enterprise-certificate rules, specifically the rule that the sideloading process be used only by company employees.

 

Keep in mind, Facebook recruited people to use its research app through Instagram and Snapchat ads, and those who signed up agreed to the terms and were instructed to download the Facebook Research app by sideloading it.   Either way you slice it, Apple responded by abruptly revoking  a whole slew of Facebook’s enterprise  certificates, not only compromising Research, but also many other iOS apps that were in development internally at Facebook.

 

Here’s Apple’s statement:

“We designed our Enterprise Developer Program solely for the internal distribution of apps within an organization. Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple. Any developer using their enterprise certificates to distribute apps to consumers will have their certificates revoked, which is what we did in this case to protect our users and their data.”

 

But here’s the kicker.  Apple’s revocation of the developer certificate not only messed with Facebook users, but practically crippled Facebook’s workforce in the process.  This is because the same certificate that authenticated the research apps was also used in the key internal Facebook apps its tens of thousands of employees use every day.

 

The move dramatically escalated tensions between Facebook and Apple, and has left Facebook employees unable to communicate with colleagues, access internal information, and even use company transportation.  Facebook employees are reportedly “pissed” and “angry” about the news and looking for someone to blame, alternately attacking Apple or their own colleagues working on the project for the setback.

 

Company leadership, meanwhile, is trying to reassure rank-and-file employees that the systems will be up and running again shortly.  But is Facebook really giving a damn since they just reported larger 4^th quarter profits than expected?

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