Apple
- Apple CEO Tim Cook made a not-so-veiled attack on Facebook during a speech on Thursday.
- Cook attacked companies that pursue engagement at all costs and sell user data to advertisers.
- Apple and Facebook are warring over a privacy update coming to iOS in the spring.
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Apple’s privacy war with Facebook is escalating again.
CEO Tim Cook launched an attack on business models that prioritize engagement above all and hoover up user data to target users with advertising in a speech to the European Computers, Privacy and Data Protection Conference on Thursday.
Cook said: “Technology does not need vast troves of personal data, stitched together across dozens of websites and apps, in order to succeed. Advertising existed and thrived for decades without it. And we’re here today because the path of least resistance is rarely the path of wisdom.”
While he did not mention Facebook by name, it appeared fairly transparent that the social media company was what he was referring to.
“At a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories juiced by algorithms, we can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement – the longer the better – and all with the goal of collecting as much data as possible,” said Cook.
"It is long past time to stop pretending that this approach doesn't come with a cost - of polarization, of lost trust and, yes, of violence. A social dilemma cannot be allowed to become a social catastrophe," he added. He appeared to allude to the Netflix documentary "The Social Dilemma," which centered on Facebook and which the company said was more interested in "sensationalism" than factuality.
The Apple CEO seemed to call on lawmakers to step in and regulate Facebook. "If a business is built on misleading users, on data exploitation, on choices that are no choices at all, then it does not deserve our praise. It deserves reform," he said.
Apple and Facebook have been at loggerheads since August last year, when Apple announced it was going to introduce a feature to the App Store, which would force apps to ask users for consent before tracking them for advertising purposes.
This privacy update was originally slated to roll out with iOS14 in September, but Apple delayed it after Facebook protested, saying the update would decimate its and other developers' ad revenue. Apple announced this week the feature will finally roll out in early Spring. Insider reported in December the company was aiming for a March release date.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg attacked Apple during a Facebook earnings call on Wednesday, accusing the iPhone maker of making "misleading" promises about its privacy practices.
News broke on Thursday that Facebook is reportedly preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Apple over its App Store rules for third-party developers. This chimed with comments Zuckerberg made accusing Apple of abusing its App Store dominance.