Why Apple WebKit Turned on ID Vendors — and What the Research Says

By Amara Osei

Apple is blocking identifier vendors in a post-iOS 27 world, and a wave of recent research suggests WebKit's long-standing privacy position now looks defensible rather than extreme.

The ad tech industry is planning tentative next steps, asking one pressing question: why is Apple blocking ID vendors now? After all, Apple WebKit has repeated the same privacy and tracking arguments for years. What changed is the evidence.

What does the new research actually show?

In September, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, together with ad tech analytics firms DeepSee.io and Adalytics, published "Bridging the Gap: A Longitudinal Analysis of Extended Identifiers in the Post-Cookie Era." The paper shows how extended identifiers (EIDs, alternative user-level IDs meant to replace third-party cookies) can reproduce persistent user-level tracking without cookies.

Then, last week, cybersecurity firms Report URI and iVerify documented bad actors using expired web domains with ad tags to infiltrate iPhones and steal keychain passwords for crypto wallets. The attackers needed only for the page and its ads to load — no ad click required.

A week before that, Confiant and the University of Toronto's CitizenLab published a report describing "zero-click mercenary spyware delivered via targeted ads." Ads bought by Discover-Tech were allegedly used by spyware provider Candiru to spy on Al Jazeera journalists across 45 different devices.

Three studies in a month, each documenting a different abuse vector. Maybe Apple is on to something — though the company itself has not publicly tied its ID-vendor blocking to any of this research.

Can scarcity sell advertising?

Apple TV does not stream outside commercials or work with brand sponsors outside live sports, unlike many Hollywood streamers and networks. Yet Apple's ads business has gotten a large boost from its Formula 1 partnership, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Apple TV holds exclusive streaming rights to F1 races and can negotiate deals with sponsors already appearing on F1 cars and uniforms, such as American Express and Ford. In its inaugural F1 season this year, viewership is reportedly up double digits versus ESPN's races last season. Brand lift studies on F1 sponsors yielded positive results in familiarity, favorability and purchase intent, beating overall US CTV (connected TV) benchmarks.

Apple Ads VP Todd Teresi said the company's goal is not to "grow advertising at all costs," but to create a "balanced model" for the consumer and advertiser alike. Traditionally, ad-sales success begets more ads, not fewer. The relative scarcity of Apple's placements may itself be the benefit: it is easier to recall one ad than 20.

Where do surveillance cameras meet retail media?

Retail media and API-based data feeds have produced controversial integrations. Ulta, Lowe's and Home Depot have touted relationships with Flock, which operates a nationwide network of street cameras for vehicle tracking, Marketing Brew reports. The partnerships center on crime — Ulta employs an actual "director of organized retail crime."

Retailers have merged safety and shrink strategies with retail media in other ways, such as incentivizing app downloads to unlock store shelves. Brink's, the armored car and safe manufacturer, even runs a retail media and data sales arm.

MapQuest, now owned by performance marketing company System1, two weeks ago released a feature displaying Flock and other street-level surveillance networks, including Axon Enterprise, Motorola Solutions and PlateSmart. MapQuest GM Doug Berger says tracking these cameras is consistently a top request from users wary of surveillance.

The takeaway: brands face a marketing opportunity on both sides — partnering with Flock or helping people avoid it.

Also in the news

• Social-based creators are growing fast but cannot monetize news coverage, Digiday reports.
• Meta says its Muse users are shopping and spending hundreds of dollars per purchase, according to Business Insider.
• Apple has its most exciting phone in years, but there are growing pains, Bloomberg reports.
• Former Moloco exec Dock Kim joins Bidease as VP of business development.

With research mounting on both identifier abuse and ad-delivered spyware, Apple's privacy posture is becoming harder for ad tech to dismiss as mere posturing.