Apple to launch privacy campaign in Australia, in a move widely seen as a jab at Google, Facebook

In a move widely seen as a jab at tech giants Facebook and Google, Apple is set to launch a campaign in Australia promising to bring back privacy to smartphone users.

In a move widely seen as a jab at its fellow tech giants, Apple will launch a consumer privacy awareness campaign in Australia this weekend, stressing users don’t have to give up their location, photos, and private messages just to use smartphones.

The campaign, which follows a series of bold privacy statements by chief executive Tim Cook, also comes after new claims Facebook shared users’ data with third parties and European regulators slugged Google with a $US57 million fine for breaching privacy laws.

But technology experts say many users still aren’t aware of just how much personal information they’re sharing with large companies, and are living in “happy apathy” despite a series of scandals.

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Apple will launch a new campaign advertising its iPhone's strict privacy rules in a move widely seen to be a swipe at other tech giants, including Facebook and Google.

Apple is understood to be rolling out its privacy campaign on Sunday night in Australia, with the quirky advertisement showing bedroom doors being slammed, blinds being drawn, and visitors kept out of yards by angry chihuahuas.

The ad is designed to draw attention to Apple’s unusual approach to safeguarding consumers’ private information, which includes anonymising questions asked to Siri, encrypting location information from Maps, and preventing third-party apps from gathering sensitive information.

The company’s public statement comes just months after Mr Cook called for “comprehensive federal privacy legislation” in the US following a year of privacy breaches and scandals from other large tech firms.

“Consumers shouldn’t have to tolerate another year of companies irresponsibly amassing huge user profiles, data breaches that seem out of control, and the vanishing ability to control our own digital lives,” he said.

“We think every user should have the chance to say, ‘Wait a minute. That’s my information that you’re selling, and I didn’t consent’.”

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Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks at the Steve Jobs Theatre in Cupertino last week.

Social network Facebook has attracted the greatest share of criticism for its lack of privacy safeguards after more than a year of controversies, from the Cambridge Analytica scandal that exposed information from more than 87 million users, including 300,000 Australians, to recent revelations the company shared users’ private messages with third parties, and exposed millions of user passwords in plain text.

Google, which makes the world’s most popular smartphone software, was also recently fined a record-breaking $US57 billion by the French data protection agency for failing to adequately disclose how it uses consumers’ information from its search engine, Google Maps, and YouTube.

But Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi said Apple’s call for privacy wouldn’t strike a cord with every Australian smartphone user, as many simply didn’t realise just how much information they were handing over to social media platforms or smartphone companies.

“The level of understanding around privacy is increasing but it’s still quite low,” he said.

“When consumers become aware that providers capture and retain large amounts of data, they’re likely to be more concerned about it. Most consumers live in a happy apathy.”

The Telsyte Digital Consumer Study 2019 found more than six in 10 smartphone users were concerned about private information being exposed, with slightly more concern from iPhone users than those using Google Android, and but one in three users were comfortable using apps that tracked their location to give them more relevant results.

Mr Fadaghi said raising awareness of privacy issues could help pressure some tech giants to “increase privacy controls across all digital platforms” before personal information became public.