As the battle between Facebook and Apple intensifies, Wall Street Newspaper released a new report this morning detailing Facebook’s anger at Apple. The report explains that one of the turning points in the battle was an interview that Tim Cook gave in 2018 amid the Cambridge Analytics scandal on Facebook.
In the interview, he proclaimed that Apple would never have found himself in such a position, and called for “well-designed regulations” to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future. Zuckerberg responded in public, calling Cook’s comments “talkative” and liars.
In private, today’s report says that Zuckerberg was even tougher. “We need to inflict pain,” he told his team on Facebook.
In late 2020, Facebook reportedly “deliberated” to join Epic Games in its legal battle against Apple. Although the company decided to stay on the sidelines, it agreed to provide Epic with documents and help when needed. Recent reports have suggested that Facebook is planning its own antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
In a statement, a Facebook spokeswoman said that Apple’s proposal to choose between personalized services and privacy is a “false tradeoff”.
A Facebook spokeswoman, Dani Lever, said the choice between personalized services and privacy was a “false tradeoff” and that Facebook offers both. “These are not two companies. It is about the future of the free Internet, ”she said, saying that small businesses, application developers and consumers lose out with Apple’s new rules. “Apple says it is about privacy, but about profit, and we are teaming up with others to point out their anti-competitive and self-preferential behavior.”
She denied that the dispute between the two companies is personal and said that Facebook is “deliberately facing Apple” on behalf of companies and developers hurt by the new policy.
It wasn’t always like this
Wall Street Newspaper points out that Facebook and Apple were not always at odds. In fact, during a 2014 interview, Cook referred to Facebook as a “partner”, while highlighting the competitive threat posed by Android.
As tensions rose in subsequent years, however, Zuckerberg and Cook held a face-to-face meeting in 2017. This resulted in a “tense standoff,” says the report.
Nowadays, the tension between Facebook and Apple is so strong that “consultants from both companies, including law firms and lobbyists, are increasingly concerned that they may not be able to work for both,” says the report.
Apple has continuously doubled its focus on privacy and plans to launch its new App Tracking Transparency feature to the public soon. Tim Cook also continued to criticize Facebook’s business model, saying in an interview last month that valuing engagement over privacy leads to “polarization” and “violence”.
The full report is worth reading and can be found at Wall Street Newspaper. Here is an Apple News link for those who subscribe to Apple News + for access to the WSJ.
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