“what apple did not like was that they had kind of lost control over uh content discovery on on the iphone right so when when the app store was first launched i mean that was how you discovered apps right it was it was through going to the app store... that changed over the years and the way that people discovered apps um was through advertising right and primarily facebook advertising”

ATT Was About Apple Reclaiming Distribution Control — Not Just Protecting Privacy

The most accurate framing of ATT is Apple reclaiming the gatekeeping role Facebook had taken from it. When ad-driven discovery replaced App Store editorial, Apple lost leverage to trade featuring for iOS feature adoption. ATT reset that balance. Developers who understand the true motivation can better predict Apple's future platform moves.