Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been repeatedly irritated by comments from Apple CEO Tim Cook about social networking and privacy, which allegedly led to animosity between the company’s two bosses.
Apple is well known as a technology giant that tries to ensure that users maintain an element of privacy in their digital lives. With initiatives like the iOS 14 App Tracking Transparency on the way, even more attention has been brought to the concept.
However, while Facebook is publicly attacking Apple’s privacy initiatives, a profile in the fray between the two tech titans suggests that it has been going on for some years.
During the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018, Tim Cook made comments on the subject that Zuckerberg considered “extremely superficial” and “nothing aligned with the truth”, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Behind closed doors, Zuckerberg reportedly wanted to bring down Apple, allegedly telling his team “we need to inflict pain” on the iPhone maker. This was not the only time that Zuckerberg objected to Cook’s comment, which has repeated itself over time.
In the latest incarnation of disagreement between companies, Zuckerberg accused Apple of interfering with the way Facebook applications work with its privacy changes. In response, Cook condemned “algorithm-fueled conspiracy theories” without mentioning Facebook, but still heavily inferring in his direction.
People familiar with Zuckerberg allegedly believe that the Facebook boss is taking Apple’s attacks on the company personally.
Despite public attacks on each other, Facebook spokeswoman Dani Lever insists that the arguments are not of a personal nature. Instead, they are “about the future of the free Internet”.
“Apple says this is about privacy, but it is about profit, and we are teaming up with others to point out its anti-competitive nature of self-preference,” added Lever.
Apple and Tim Cook have long held the view that “the customer is not our product”. Your business model does not rely on data collection and advertising, making it much easier for Apple to maintain that stance than Facebook, which relies on advertising.
Currently, Facebook is simultaneously yielding to changes in Apple’s entry policy regarding ad tracking, as well as fighting the company. Facebook is preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple over the matter, while running a marketing campaign against the measures.