FB isn't really alarmed... The majority of their revenue comes from their own app which they'll continue to be able to target you on because people give data to it willingly. They won't be able to use their partner mobile apps to display ads to, that was a decent business but obviously will become less valuable, but it wasn't that big for them. They are signaling to their customers that things are changing and to expect that they'll change dramatically. FB however remains with your real email address on file and lots of accurate data about you, with their SDK and other mobile apps their accuracy in data collection won't change a whole lot.
Because forced decision making is a barrier to tool use. For instance, imagine if every time you opened your IDE it asked you which language you're going to type in. You like your IDE to be work best with the language you're working in, so that's good. You're adding user choice here, so that's good. But the outcome is bad. Why is that?
Well, if the discussion has shifted from "Why is Facebook alarmed about users getting a choice if users are happy to be tracked?" to "What frequency of being asked about a choice is acceptable?", I think all the tough parts of the argument are now complete and it's possible for the reader to walk through to the conclusion of why Facebook is alarmed.
I don't think the discussion has shifted. It's just that the objection you're raising, that too much choice is a barrier to tool usage, doesn't really apply to this situation.
Given that this isn't overloading the user with a ton of options each time they launch an app, why is Facebook alarmed about users having the choice to opt out of tracking?
And I'll extend on that question: even if users are annoyed at a single extra popup that gets shown once when they install an app, why does Facebook care? Users will still pick the option that they prefer, they'll just be annoyed at Apple for asking. Why is Facebook alarmed that users on iPhone will have to spend a half second, once, saying, "ugh, Apple, of course I want a company to track everything I do online"?
Writing behavior like that is probably the least-charitable interpretation of an instruction to ask the user what they want, and is certainly not within the spirit of that original request.
Ergo that tactic makes whoever uses it a malefactor
