Technology
Mark Zuckerberg told Facebook workers to ‘inflict pain’ on Apple as brutal privacy war intensifies
FACEBOOK boss Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told staff to “inflict pain” on Apple and its CEO Tim Cook during a heated meeting in 2018.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Silicon Valley mogul was hopping mad over comments Cook made on national television about the way Facebook handles user data.
Mark Zuckerberg told Facebook staff ‘we need to inflict pain’ on Apple in 2018, according to reports[/caption]
Cook, 60, had made a jab at the social media giant about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which led to the leak of the personal data of millions of Facebook users without their consent.
He sneered that Apple would never have found itself in the same position as the social media company.
According to the Journal, Zuckerberg’s response – internally, at least – was one of fire and brimstone.
People familiar with the matter revealed that the 36-year-old told his team: “We need to inflict pain”, for treating the company so poorly.
was hopping mad over comments Cook made on national television about the way Facebook handles user data[/caption]
It’s at odds with Zuck’s milder public comments at the time. The Facebook founder had described Cook’s jibe as “extremely glib” and “not at all aligned with the truth.”
The Journal’s report has shed further light on the long-time feud between the two tech titans.
Slippery Zuck has moaned for years that Apple holds too much power over his company and the wider tech industry.
Cook, on the other hand, has repeatedly attacked Facebook for its poor track record on protecting user privacy.
More recently, Apple and Facebook have become embroiled in a bitter war of words over a new feature added to the App Store.
The upgrade to the iOS operating system asks iPhone and iPad users whether they want to allow apps like Facebook to track their activity.
It incudes a new prompt telling people what data is gathered by smartphone apps and asking for permission to allow it.
Cook had sneered that Apple would never have found itself in the same position as Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica scandal[/caption]
Apple argues the tool, called Privacy Labels, gives consumers greater choice over who uses their data, and how.
But Facebook has slammed the move, arguing that tracking data to personalise ads helps keep its apps free, and benefits small businesses.
In a fiery blog post this month, Facebook warned that Apple’s notification “suggests there is a tradeoff between personalised advertising and privacy”.
Developers forecast that as little as 10 to 13 per cent of Facebook users will opt-in to tracking if given the choice.
The feud boiled over last month after Apple’s CEO implied that Facebook encourages disinformation and violence.
Tim Cook appeared to take aim at the company when he blasted “disinformation and conspiracy theories juiced by algorithms” during a virtual data privacy conference in Brussels.
The social network is reportedly preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple over its control of the App Store.
“As we have said repeatedly, we believe Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using their control of the App Store to benefit their bottom line at the expense of app developers and small businesses,” Facebook told AFP.
Why does it feel like Facebook is snooping on you?
Here’s what you need to know…
- The magic of targeted advertising is that it should feel relevant to you – even if you can’t figure out why.
- Facebook doesn’t need to spy on your real-life conversations, because you hand over so much information anyway.
- Follow this link and you’ll be able to download everything Facebook knows about you. Most of you will quickly realise it’s a staggering amount of information.
- Advertisers can use information gleaned from your activity all across the web, on multiple devices, even if you’re not logged into Facebook or other services.
- They’ll likely know where you live, what you like, who your friends are, how much money you make, your political beliefs and much more.
- So when you get ads for something you’ve talked about out loud, it’s almost certainly just advertisers being very good at predicting your interests.
- It’s also possible that there’s an advertising campaign running, and you’ve seen an ad and not noticed. You’ve then spoken about it, never realising you’ve been advertised to, and only then notice future ads – which suddenly seem suspicious.
- Let’s say you talked about a holiday to Scotland, and then all of a sudden you’re being advertised holidays to Scotland.
- You may never have searched for anything to do with that before.
- But Facebook could use info about your level of wealth, your past holiday interests, the time of year (ads for wintry Scottish retreats are common in the colder months), and your location.
- What seems like snooping is actually just clever advertising.
Most read in Tech
In other news, reports this week revealed that Facebook is developing a smartwatch that could launch as early as 2022.
Facebook is adding a second “News Feed” that doesn’t show posts from your friends and family.
And, you could be owed a FREE iPhone screen replacement from Apple.
What do you make of Zuck’s war with Apple? Let us know in the comments!
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