Privacy on online platforms has been an ongoing problem for sometimes now, with the Facebook owner, Mark Zuckerberg being in the limelight. After facing backlash from the users of both Facebook and WhatsApp, this time the Apple CEO has taken a dig at Zuckerberg.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg were seen taking digs at each other. Without taking any names, they indirectly fired at each other over privacy issues. It was Cook who indirectly fired at social media platforms over privacy issues.
Cook criticized the social media platforms for gathering user data and using it for targeted ads. “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.” The Apple CEO said that, even when social media platforms didn’t exist, advertisements still thrived and were still able to grab the audience’s attention.
Taking an indirect hit at Facebook, Cook added that, “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.”
He compared all this to violence and said eventually, such a model will lead to loss of trust. This also comes at a time when Facebook was criticized during the Pro-Donald Trump rally. “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. 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,” added the Apple CEO.
Zuckerberg took a dig at Cook by calling their privacy promises, ‘misleading.’ He added Apple wants to use their power to dictate how apps are working.
