Apple and Facebook have been in a public feud over the past few months, while Apple has taken a pro-privacy stance. Both companies have been tense for a long time. More recently, however, Facebook is taking pictures of an iOS and iPadOS feature that will require apps and data companies like Facebook to ask users for permission before tracking them on other sites and sites.
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While for the most part, the war of words between the tech titans remained professional, Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook also shared a flurry of attacks against each other. During an interview in 2018 amid the notorious Cambridge Analytica scandal on Facebook, Cook was asked how he would lead Apple if it faced a similar crisis. Cook responded by deciding the hypothetical situation out of the question, saying that Apple would not be in the same situation as Facebook, thanks to its different position on privacy and user data. Zuckerberg countered, calling Cook’s comments on TV “extremely simplistic” and “not in line with the truth.”
Zuckerberg, outraged by Cook’s comments and the public’s influence on Facebook’s reputation, told insiders and team members that Facebook needs to “inflict pain” on Apple, according to sources who spoke anonymously to Wall Street Newspaper. Last month, during the company’s profits, Zuckerberg called Apple an increasing threat to Facebook and accused the technology giant of Cupertino of using its platforms to interfere with the way Facebook operates its own applications.
The day after public comments, Cook responded indirectly in a speech at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference, where he condemned Facebook and hinted that his business model of maximizing engagement leads to division and violence. During the same speech, Cook censored Facebook’s potential role in the January 6 Capitol riot, blaming the social media company’s algorithms for spreading conspiracy theories.
In December, Facebook published full-page ads attacking Apple’s ATT or the application tracking transparency requirement that will force applications to ask for user permission before tracking them in applications and on the Internet. Facebook is attacking Apple from the point of view that ATT will hurt small businesses that rely on personalized ads derived from effective tracking. In response, Cook gave his opinion directly on Twitter, stating that Apple simply wants to give users a choice about whether they want to be tracked or not.
Despite the blows and personal attacks, in a statement given to Wall Street Newspaper, Facebook spokeswoman Dani Lever refuted the idea that the tension between the two is personal, suggesting that it was “the future of the free internet”. Facebook says choosing between tracking users for personalized ads and protecting their privacy is a “fake exchange”, claiming it believes it can provide both. The spokeswoman reiterated previous comments from Facebook, stating that Apple’s privacy features are not intended to preserve user privacy, but to increase profit, and that Facebook will join others to highlight “self-preferential and anti-competitive behavior “from Apple.
Apple declined to comment on the report.
Facebook is planning to take its disapproval of Apple to court as it is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against the Cupertino-based technology company for its “unfair” approach to privacy with ATT and iMessage. As part of its process, Facebook is considering partnering with other companies like Epic Games, which is already engaged in a huge legal battle with Apple to boost its antitrust case. Facebook can, however, dismiss its plans to bring any form of legal action against Apple.
Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who leads the Republican’s effort on the Senate’s antitrust subcommittee, said Wall Street Newspaper that the rivalry between Apple and Facebook lies in the “nexus of privacy and antitrust”, and that he does not want to “impose regulations that end up protecting the holders and consolidating monopolies”.
Apple pledged to launch ATT with iOS and iPadOS 14.5 in “early spring” and Facebook apparently admitted defeat in its failed attempt to prevent the new requirement from taking effect. Apps are free to customize the prompt that users will receive by requesting their permission to be tracked in other apps and on the web, and screenshots of the Facebook prompt for your iOS app ask users to opt in to tracking to receive “a better ad experience. “
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