Tech titans Facebook-Apple spat intensifies

The war of words, and now seemingly actions, between Silicon Valley tech titans Apple and Facebook has intensified. Mark Zuckerberg has told employees, "We need to inflict pain." It was in response to Apple's ;treatment' of the social media giant.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the war-of-words between Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook Chief Zuckerberg has been on for years, and came to head in 2018. It said that Zuckerberg has been upset at Cook's harsh comments on the social media platform's data collection and privacy policies.

Cook publicly called out Facebook for its data collection practices during an interview on national TV after Facebook's policies were found to be controversial. He had stated that Apple would have "never found itself in such a jam," the report said.

Zuckerberg had then publicly criticised Cook's comments as "extremely glib" and untrue, but in private the WSJ reports, he was furious, telling his team "we need to inflict pain."

The report notes that it is this build up of back-and-forth between the two tech giants that left Zuckerberg "plotting to get back at Apple" and resulted in last month's rare and open spat on issues such as app tracking tools, privacy and the future of the internet.

Apple the report notes has recently begun positioning itself to be the "protector of internet privacy" and "upholding the greater good", juxtaposed to Facebook - without explicitly naming the latter of course.

This has also grated Facebook, which sees the stance as "hypocritical" given Apple extensive business ties with China.

The Business Insider noted that Cook was piqued by Facebook's business model "prioritising engagement and gathering user data for targeted advertising."

The BI report noted that Apple iOS' latest update will make it easier for users to block permission for data tracking when setting up their device. Facebook is pre-empting the move through pop-ups suggesting users enable permissions for "more personalised ads" and so as to "support businesses that rely on ads."

Facebook's take is that Apple's moves are in bad faith akin to anti-competitiveness and that it is "carving policies that benefit it."

In a statement to Insider, Facebook said: "This is not about two companies - this is about the future of the free internet. Apple is creating two sets of rules - one for themselves and one for small businesses, app developers, and consumers who lose out. Apple claims this is about privacy, but it's about profit, and we're joining others to point out their self-preferencing, anti-competitive behavior."