Apple's Tim Cook criticizes social media practices, intensifying Facebook conflict
(Reuters) - 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.
“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.
Facebook has accused Apple of anticompetitive conduct because Apple has a growing catalog of paid apps and its own digital advertising business. Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday said Apple has “every incentive to use their dominant platform position to interfere with how our apps and other apps work.”
Cook on Thursday criticized social media practices that he said undermine public trust in vaccines and encourage users to join extremist groups.
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.”