Apple Inc Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook on Thursday criticized polarization and misinformation on social media, intensifying a conflict between the iPhone maker and Facebook Inc.
This comes during a time when Facebook is opposed to the new privacy notifications update.
In remarks delivered at the Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection conference, Cook critiqued apps that he opines collect too much personal information and prioritize “conspiracy theories and violent incitement simply because of their high rates of engagement.”
“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,” Cook said.
Although Cook never named Facebook, as mentioned before they have been in a dispute for a while. According to Reuters, Facebook has accused Apple of having anti-competitive conduct.
In response to Cook’s remarks, Facebook said in a statement that it believes “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.”
