Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has complained for years that Apple Inc. and its leader, Tim Cook, have too much control over the business of the social media giant. In 2018, his anger overflowed.
Facebook was involved in controversies over its data collection practices. Cook added in a national television interview, saying that his own company would never have found himself in such a traffic jam. Mr. Zuckerberg countered that Mr. Cook’s comments were “extremely talkative” and “not in line with the truth”.
In particular, Zuckerberg was even more severe. “We need to inflict pain,” he told his team, for treating the company so badly, according to people familiar with the exchange.
It was not the first time – or the last – that Cook’s comments and actions had angered Zuckerberg and, at times, conspired to take revenge on Apple. The escalation of complaints broke out at the end of last month in a rare public eye-to-eye between the two tech giants who exposed the latent animosity among their leaders, who exchanged privacy jokes, app tracking tools, and finally their dueling visions about the future of the Internet.
Apple has positioned itself as the protector of digital privacy, advocating for a greater good, while also criticizing Facebook’s business model – without naming the company. All of this irritates Facebook, which sees Apple as exaggerated in a way that threatens Facebook’s existence, and hypocritical, even doing extensive business in China, where privacy is scarce. A 2017 attempt to address tensions through a face-to-face meeting between the two CEOs resulted in a tense stalemate.