Alibaba Frets Over Apple Privacy Policy

Last week, Alibaba invited half a dozen marketing industry executives to discuss a growing worry: Apple’s new privacy policy on its mobile software threatens to cut off the Chinese e-commerce giant and its advertising partners from troves of user data that fuel the company’s all-important ad business.

The private meeting at Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou was a chance for the company to explore how to protect one of its biggest sources of revenue from mounting external pressure. Alibaba had already been grappling with new restrictions imposed by Chinese authorities on what type of consumer information internet companies can collect.