There was a time when Facebook and Apple had a good relationship. Later than Facebook grew and started collecting data indiscriminately, the relationship deteriorated rapidly. In this context, the NYT published an interesting anecdote about Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg a few years ago.
A progressive distance resulting from the vision of privacy
The distance between Apple and Facebook, or between Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg, began in 2018. That’s when Tim Cook began to speak out more clearly about privacy and to defend it as a “fundamental right”. In the same year, 2018, Facebook was in a major crisis. Zuckerberg testified before Congress where he was asked how the social network revealed the data of more than 50 million users and how they were used to influence the US presidential election.
In that regard, during an interview with MSNBC, Tim Cook was asked what he would do if he were in Zuckerberg’s position. Apple’s CEO’s reaction was met with laughter and applause from the audience as he forcefully stated this “I wouldn’t find myself in this position”.
Since then, the topic of privacy and data collection has been present in Tim Cook’s interviews. In a conference within the framework of the European Union’s CPDP, the Apple executive made one clear reference to Facebook, but without mentioning the name:
When a business is based on deceiving users, exploiting data, or elections [del usuario] It’s not an election at all, it doesn’t deserve our praise, it deserves reform.
In April 2021, with the announcement of App Tracking Transparency, the privacy issue came up again Facebook described the new function as an “existential crisis” for its company. In this regard, Tim Cook stated the following:
“Everything we do, Kara [la entrevistadora]consists in giving the user the option of being tracked or not. And I think it’s hard to argue against that. I was surprised that there has been a setback so far.”
Tim Cook’s response to Mark Zukerberg
In the context of recent years, the NYT reflects on how Mark Zuckerberg asked Tim Cook for advice during a meeting in July 2019. This meeting took place at the invitation of investment bank Allen & Company in a context where the Cambridge Analytica scandal was having a severe impact.
“At the meeting, Zuckerberg asked Cook how he would deal with the fallout from the crisis, people with knowledge of the call said. Mr Cook sourly replied that Facebook should remove any information it had collected about people outside of its core apps. Mr. Zuckerberg was stunned, said the people who were not authorized to speak publicly.
A response that goes beyond curiosity and gives us insight into the scale of values Apple applies when making privacy decisions. We know that privacy is inherent to Apple products, but that’s no accident or coincidence. It is the result of measures such as app tracking transparency, which is already part of our lives, and systematic respect for the user and the fundamental human right of privacy.
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Source : www.applesfera.com