Apple’s iOS 27 blocked The Trade Desk, a major ad-buying platform, from serving ads in Safari, trade journal AdExchanger reports (via AppleInsider). Because the block occurs at the WebKit level, The Trade Desk was also prevented from delivering ads through other iOS browsers such as Chrome.
The Trade Desk submitted a bug report arguing that Apple’s aim appears to be to completely block domains that enable post-cookie identity, but the affected addresses were its ad request and delivery domain, not identity tracking. The bug report claims its logs show its advertising bids being blocked while Google’s bids went through normally.
The iOS 27.2 beta reverses the block, but since it is still in beta, The Trade Desk cannot serve Safari ads until the public release. AdExchanger says it has seen a list of ad technology companies Apple is or may target, reportedly hundreds of firms, with Google potentially excluded. Apple also appears to be developing a dynamic blocklist that would allow blocking or unblocking advertisers without requiring an OS update.
Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, introduced in 2021, forced advertisers to ask users for permission to track them. After an initial drop, opt-in rates recovered, but advertisers found workarounds. Meta has criticised the restrictions, and antitrust authorities have investigated them. Meanwhile, Apple has been expanding its own advertising, including in Maps and potentially Visual Intelligence.
Apple has not commented on the iOS 27 blocklist. It remains unknown whether the Trade Desk block was deliberate or a mistake, whether Google is actually excluded from Apple’s list, or when iOS 27.2 will reach the public.