Tim Cook called Facebook’s argument against Apple’s new privacy policy far-fetched

In a new interview with the New York Times, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, shared his take on Facebook’s statements regarding his company’s new privacy features. As a reminder, the iOS App Tracking Transparency feature is expected to launch in the coming weeks.

The upcoming innovation’s essence is that the Apple iOS and iPad OS operating systems will ask users whether they agree to share information about their online activities and other personal data with application developers. The new feature has displeased Facebook at the time of its announcement. The company claims that the innovation could destroy the part of its business that deals with advertising, and its personalization based on user data are an essential component. Facebook also previously stated that Apple’s actions would jeopardize small businesses by failing to personalize ads.

Tim Cook told The Times that he believed society was experiencing a privacy crisis. He was shocked at how much IT companies, especially Facebook, have resisted introducing a feature designed to solve this problem. The social media giant even ran a full-page ad campaign in publications such as The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to prove that personalized ads help Facebook users start their own businesses.

Tim Cook stated that these statements are completely unconvincing. The head of Apple is confident that it is possible to produce digital advertising and make money from it without tracking people’s actions without their knowledge. Cook also said he disagreed with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s claim that Apple is a competitor to his company. The Apple CEO does not see Facebook as a competitor because the Apple company is not involved in social networking.

Facebook and Apple have a long history of disagreements. It all started in 2014 when Cook criticized Facebook’s business model. He also openly criticized the company after the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018, when information about a massive leaking of social network users’ personal data was revealed. Then Cook said that he would never find himself in the situation in which Zuckerberg found himself. He responded by calling Cook’s comments “too lively” and privately ordered his employees to ditch the iPhone in favor of Android devices.

Now the battle between the two companies can move into the courtroom. According to a January report from The Information, Facebook is working on a lawsuit alleging that Apple is making different demands on third-party applications than the company itself follows in branded programs.