Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP), owner of social media app Snapchat, warned on Thursday that upcoming changes to the privacy policy on Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) could impact its advertising business.
In its fourth-quarter results released after the close on Thursday, the company said changes to the policy on Apple’s iOS operating system for its iPhones, which will ask users for consent to track their data to personalise ads, will "present another risk of interruption to [advertiser] demand in the period immediately after they are implemented”.
The company added that it is “not clear yet” what the longer-term impact of the changes will be for its topline momentum.
Snap isn’t the only tech firm the faces issues from the looming change in Apple’s privacy rules, with fellow social media firm Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) saying the new policy could potentially have a major impact on its business.
READ: Apple chief attacks social media as war of words with Facebook intensifies
The assessment cast a shadow over a set of positive quarterly results, with Snap reporting a narrowed loss of US$113mln in the fourth quarter compared to a US$241mln loss in the prior year. Revenues, meanwhile rose 62% to US$911mln while the number of daily active users (DAU) on the platform expanded 22% to 265mln.
The revenues and user figures surpassed analyst estimates, which has forecast a revenue figure of US$857.4mln and DAU of 258mln.
Looking ahead, Snap estimated revenues for the first quarter of 2021 will be between US$720-740mln compared to US$462mln in the prior year, while adjusted (EBITDA) losses for the quarter are predicted to be between US$70-50mln compared to an US$81mln loss previously.