Is this just lobbying against privacy?

Over on Threads this week, Marques Brownlee (you’ve probably heard of him) asked for everyone’s “tech hot takes”. And Instagram and Threads’ boss Adam Mosseri chimed in saying that “Android’s now better than iOS”.

Now if you’ve been following him on Threads since it launched, you’ll know that he did recently switch to Android on his main device. And has talked about he prefers it over iOS these days.

One has to wonder if this is going to influence Instagram and Threads‘ product roadmap, with the head of the two apps preferring to use Android over iOS. However, some people believe it’s a bit deeper than just “preferring” one platform over another.

Could Mosseri dislike iOS because it forces apps to show what data they are collecting?

Some might think that Mosseri is preferring Android over iOS these days, due to the privacy of iOS. Don’t forget, that Apple did cost Facebook, Instagram’s parent-company, over $10 billion per year when it added the “Ask not to track” feature a couple of years ago. On top of that, Apple does force apps to show what data is collecting from its users. And it puts it front-and-center.

Now, Android does also show you on the Play Store listing what data is being collected for each app, but it’s not as front-and-center as Apple puts it on their App Store. So it’s pretty likely that he prefers Android over iOS because Android let’s them collect all of this data without their users really knowing.

Don’t forget, that Threads is not available in Europe because of how much data it is collecting. Which means that they would be scrutinized a ton in the EU, and violate some privacy laws as well. So this statement by Mosseri might sound like he’s stirring the pot, but it’s really just lobbying on Meta’s own platform.