--- title: "Apple blocked The Trade Desk's ads, then asked it to test a build that may unblock them" description: "On a public bug tracker, Apple asked The Trade Desk to test a new iOS 27.2 beta, and TTD's engineer saw changes within fifteen minutes. The bug sits unassigned while consensus prices a 12% revenue decline for the company whose ad delivery domain Safari blocks." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Platforms" published: 2026-10-08T15:24:00.350Z modified: 2026-10-08T15:24:00.350Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/apple-blocked-the-trade-desk-s-ads-then-asked-it-to-test-a-build-that-may-unblock-them language: en keywords: "Apple, The Trade Desk, Advertising, Privacy, Safari" --- # Apple blocked The Trade Desk's ads, then asked it to test a build that may unblock them > On a public bug tracker, Apple asked The Trade Desk to test a new iOS 27.2 beta, and TTD's engineer saw changes within fifteen minutes. The bug sits unassigned while consensus prices a 12% revenue decline for the company whose ad delivery domain Safari blocks. ## Fifteen minutes on a public bug tracker On October 5, [Apple](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/apple)'s John Wilander posted to [WebKit bug 324771](https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=324771): "A new iOS 27.2 beta went out today. Please test with it." [1] Fifteen minutes and twenty-two seconds later, Ian Meyers, senior director of engineering at [The Trade Desk](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/the-trade-desk), replied that he could see changes in build 24B5099f and would test and report back [1]. The bug still reads NEW, priority P1, assignee Nobody [1]. After two weeks of holding replies, Apple had put a build in the blocked vendor's hands. ## Eleven lines, merged in February The mechanism is eleven added lines, no deletions, [merged into WebKit on February 13](https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/pull/58670): listed domains become blockable before Safari's ordinary tracker lookup ever runs [2]. When iOS 27 shipped on September 14, The Trade Desk [could no longer serve ads to Safari users who updated](https://www.exchangewire.com/blog/2026/10/01/digest-apple-blocks-trade-desk-ads-on-safari-apple-blocks-trade-desk-ads-on-safari/) [3]. adsrvr.org is the company's core ad request and delivery domain, sitting in a list of nine whose other entries power the post-cookie identity trade [1] [4]. Reported growth had already slowed five quarters running, from 25.4% to 3.0% [6], and [consensus now calls third-quarter revenue of $650.67 million, down 12% year on year, with EPS down 42%](https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/why-market-dipped-trade-desk-204506368.html) [5]. *Chart: **Slower every quarter since early 2025, and consensus now calls a decline** Line chart of The Trade Desk's year-on-year revenue change from Q1 2025 to a consensus estimate for Q3 2026, showing deceleration from 25.4% to 3.0% and an estimated 12% decline* *Year-on-year revenue change per The Trade Desk's SEC filings; the Q3 2026 figure is analyst consensus as of October 7, 2026, and is marked as an estimate. [5][6]* ## The landlord sells advertising too Apple holds both ends of this trade. It runs an unpublished list, applied without notice and without appeal [4], and it houses a growing advertising business inside Services, which [set a June-quarter record of $30.7 billion in a $109.4 billion quarter, up 16%](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/07/apple-reports-third-quarter-results/) [7] [8]. [State Street's 13.9m shares, 3.3% of the class and about $168 million at the October 7 close](https://www.stocktitan.net/sec-filings/TTD/schedule-13g-trade-desk-inc-passive-investment-disclosure-5-88a8a26deb21.html), are among the money waiting on the decision [9]. ## Two paths into iOS 27.2 The fork is binary into the 27.2 release. If the block lifts, an overhang comes off a stock priced for decline: $12.08, up 1.32% on October 7 against a down market, down 14.98% for the month, at 9.75 times forward earnings [5]. If it stands, publishers keep rerouting. Paradium has already [pushed Permutive's blocked code through IAB Tech Lab's Trusted Server](https://ppc.land/apple-asks-the-trade-desk-to-test-an-ios-27-2-build-that-may-unblock-ads/), which moves the auction onto servers Apple cannot see [4]. ## The tell Nobody outside Apple knows what the build does. Meyers has not reported back, and whether any change reaches the production release, or touches the other eight domains, is open [1] [4]. The next readings are the 27.2 release and the third-quarter print, where the decline is already marked [5]. The scoreboard is public, and the bug is still unassigned. ## Takeaway WebKit bug 324771, still unassigned, now holds both Safari's block of adsrvr.org and The Trade Desk's 12% consensus revenue decline; the iOS 27.2 beta its engineer is testing is the first sign the block may lift. ## Sources 1. [WebKit Bugzilla, "324771: Inclusion of adsrvr.org in IS_REQUEST_UNCONDITIONALLY_BLOCKABLE domain list", filed 21 September 2026, updated 5 October 2026](https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=324771) 2. [GitHub, WebKit pull request #58670, "Unconditionally block requests going to certain domains", merged 13 February 2026](https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/pull/58670) 3. [ExchangeWire, "Digest: Apple Blocks Trade Desk Ads on Safari", 1 October 2026](https://www.exchangewire.com/blog/2026/10/01/digest-apple-blocks-trade-desk-ads-on-safari-apple-blocks-trade-desk-ads-on-safari/) 4. [PPC Land, "Apple asks The Trade Desk to test an iOS 27.2 build that may unblock ads", 8 October 2026](https://ppc.land/apple-asks-the-trade-desk-to-test-an-ios-27-2-build-that-may-unblock-ads/) 5. [Zacks Equity Research via Yahoo Finance Canada, "Why the Market Dipped But The Trade Desk (TTD) Gained Today", 7 October 2026](https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/why-market-dipped-trade-desk-204506368.html) 6. [The Trade Desk, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 8 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001671933) 7. [9to5Mac, "Apple reports Q3 2026 earnings: $109.4 billion in revenue, up 16%", 30 July 2026](https://9to5mac.com/2026/07/30/apple-reports-q3-2026-earnings-109-4-billion-in-revenue-up-16/) 8. [Apple Newsroom, "Apple reports third quarter results", 30 July 2026](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/07/apple-reports-third-quarter-results/) 9. [StockTitan, "Trade Desk: State Street reports 3.3% ownership", Schedule 13G filed 7 October 2026](https://www.stocktitan.net/sec-filings/TTD/schedule-13g-trade-desk-inc-passive-investment-disclosure-5-88a8a26deb21.html) --- Apple blocked The Trade Desk's ads, then asked it to test a build that may unblock them — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/apple-blocked-the-trade-desk-s-ads-then-asked-it-to-test-a-build-that-may-unblock-them