French ad and media trade groups want Apple to erase plans for a web eraser feature in iOS 18

A group of advertising and media trade groups have called on Apple to halt the rollout of a new feature, reports Business Insider.

The French groups say in a letter to CEO Tim Cook that the anticipated new “web eraser” feature in iOS 18 could hurt publishers. It would let users erase sections of web pages, such as ads and images.

The letter was signed by leaders of the digital-marketing trade body Alliance Digitale, the online-publishing association Geste, the ad-agency organization SRI, the media-agency trade body UDECAM, the press trade group APIG, and the Union des Marques advertiser association. In the letter, a copy of which was seen by Business Insider, they say the new tool will jeopardize the online-advertising business model “in an already troubled period.”

AppleInsider says the web eraser tool is designed to allow users to remove, or erase, specific portions of web pages, according to people familiar with the feature. The feature is expected to build upon existing privacy features within Safari and will allow users to erase unwanted content from any webpage of their choosing. “Users will have the option to erase banner ads, images, text or even entire page sections, all with relative ease,” says AppleInsider. “The erasure is said to be persistent, rather than limited to a browsing session. This means that Safari will remember the changes even after the original tab or window has been closed. When visiting a web page with previously erased content, Safari will inform the user that the page has been modified to reflect their desired changes. The browser will also give the user the option to revert changes and restore the webpage to its initial, unaltered state.”

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