Mark Zuckerberg made Facebook executives dump iPhones after Tim Cook’s privacy jab: NYT

“The Facebook co-founder’s orders to the management team were in response to Apple CEO Tim Cook’s comments regarding user data harvesting amid the Cambridge Analytica scandal”

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg reportedly ordered company’s senior executives to dump iPhones and switch to Android after biting comments from Apple’s Tim Cook over privacy. This tidbit of information comes to the fore thanks to a detailed New York Times report about Facebook’s strategy to combat the criticism it faced in the wake of Cambridge Analytica scandal. The privacy scandal has been a major headache for the social networking company and cost it billions in market value.

While Facebook was grappling with the aftereffects of the Cambridge Analytica scandal which resulted in a US Senate hearing for Zuckerberg Apple CEO Cook criticised the social media platform for collecting user data and called for regulation. In an interview with MSNBC, Cook said, ”We could make a ton of money if we monetised our customers, if our customers were our product. We’ve elected not to do that We’re not going to traffic in your personal life. Privacy to us is a human right, a civil liberty.”

On regulation, he commented, “I think the best regulation is no regulation, is self-regulation. However, I think we’re beyond that here.” He had previously said, “I think that this certain situation is so dire and has become so large that probably some well-crafted regulation is necessary.”

The NYT report claims that the comments infuriated Zuckerberg enough to make him order the management team to switch to Android phones, “arguing that the operating system had far more users than Apple’s.”

On top of that, Facebook’s strategy to improve its standing among users also included implicating Apple for data harvesting, the report claims. It says that Facebook had hired lobbyist firm Definers Public Affairs, whose affiliates included NKT Network. One of the stories published by NKT “called Mr. Cook hypocritical for chiding Facebook over privacy, noting that Apple also collects reams of data from users.”

While Apple devices do store user data, the company claims that all the information is localised and not used by advertisers. On the other hand, Facebook’s business model revolves around tools that allow advertisers to create targeted ads for based on users’ consumption patterns.

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