Apple’s public scams on Facebook so irritated CEO Mark Zuckerberg that he once said the social network needed to “inflict pain” on the iPhone maker, according to a report.
The reported comment was a harbinger of a bitter rivalry between the two tech titans, which recently exploded in public view after boiling behind the scenes for years.
Zuckerberg expressed his desire for revenge after Apple chief Tim Cook criticized Facebook’s data collection practices amid the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, according to the Wall Street Journal (paywall).
Asked how he would respond to the revelation that the political consulting firm had misused the data of millions of Facebook users, Cook simply said “he would not be in this situation”.
In his public reply, Zuckerberg called Cook’s comment “superficial” and “nothing aligned with the truth”. But later he boiled in a private meeting that Facebook needed to strike back at Apple for treating the social media giant so badly, the Journal reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the exchange.
It is unclear when exactly that meeting took place and what its purpose was. But it was just one episode in a battle over privacy, commerce and corporate responsibility that heated up Apple’s efforts to prevent applications from secretly tracking people’s data.
Apple said it will release changes to its iOS 14 software this spring, requiring application developers to explicitly ask users for permission to track their data. Facebook aggressively fought the change with an advertising campaign arguing that the changes could harm small businesses and end the “free Internet”
Zuckerberg even criticized them on Facebook’s earnings conference call last month, saying they “clearly track [Apple’s] competitive interests. “
Facebook spokeswoman Dani Lever dismissed the idea that the fight was personal, saying it was actually about “the future of the free internet”.
“Apple is creating two sets of rules – one for itself and one for small businesses, application developers and consumers who lose,” said Lever in a statement. “Apple says this is about privacy, but it is about profit, and we are joining with others to point out their anti-competitive and self-preferential behavior.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
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