Like Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) are facing antitrust investigations by regulators, corporate CEOs are exchanging barbs, heating up years of tension between the two technology CEOs.
Facebook on Apple: On Thursday, it was reported that Facebook is closer to opening an antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
Facebook accuses Apple of forcing its developers to follow rules regarding advertising on the App Store that Apple itself does not follow.
The suit could also cover Facebook’s frustration that Apple users should use Apple’s iMessage as a standard messaging service, rather than other services, such as WhatsApp.
On Facebook’s third-quarter conference call on Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg criticized Apple’s iMessage for storing “end-to-end encrypted backups of your messages by default, unless you disable iCloud.”
Zuckerberg went on to publicize WhatsApp for its security features, which he says make it “far superior”.
Apple on Facebook: Speaking at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference on Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook attacked social media platforms for allowing the sharing of “conspiracy theories and violent incitement simply because of their high rates of engagement ”.
Although he did not specifically cite Facebook, he accused social media platforms of allowing the spread of anti-vaccination plots, as well as allowing extremist groups to use the platforms to incite violence.
What is the next: The two tech giants have very different views on how data and information should be handled on the Internet. Facebook prefers a more open and less regulated approach, while Apple believes that social media platforms have to take responsibility for the information that their users have at their disposal.
If the past is any prediction of the future, however, this battle does not look like it will end anytime soon.
Apple CEO Tim Cook. Courtesy photo.
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.