Tim Cook has been extremely critical of Facebook allowing user data to be misused in the Cambridge Analytica controversy.
Cook described the situation as ‘dire’ and said the problem was so bad that ‘well-crafted regulation‘ might be the only way to ensure it couldn’t happen again …
He followed this with quite the zinger in a subsequent interview. Asked what he would do in Zuckerberg’s situation, Cook replied simply: ‘I wouldn’t be in this situation.’
Zuckerberg has now responded directly in a Vox podcast, as noted by Business Insider.
This is not a new argument between the two CEOs. As far back as 2014, Tim Cook famously said of ad-funded services that ‘when an online service is free, you’re not the customer, you’re the product.’ Facebook’s founder later hit back, calling the comment ‘ridiculous’ and saying that if Apple really cared about its customers, it would charge less.
If you want to build a service which is not just serving rich people, then you need to have something people can afford. I think it’s important that we don’t all get Stockholm syndrome, and let the companies that work hard to charge you more, convince you that they actually care more about you, because that sounds ridiculous to me.
There are arguments to be made about the balance between privacy and utility, but I think Apple is on the right side of this one.
