Facebook and Apple could be on the verge of a legal war.
The two technology giants, whose hostility to each other dates back at least a decade, are now embroiled in a growing battle over the privacy of data and market power that could potentially end up in court.
Apple said Thursday that it is speeding up plans to give users the opportunity to prevent apps from finding their data on the Internet. The changes, which take effect this spring, will directly affect Facebook’s lucrative advertising business by limiting the ability to collect data about some Apple users.
But while Apple sees the move as a victory for user privacy, Facebook sees it as an abuse of market power.
Facebook has built an antitrust lawsuit in recent months accusing Apple of using its App Store to harm competitors, said three people at Facebook who are not authorized to publicly comment on it, according to a report by The Information confirms.
“As we have repeatedly said, we believe that Apple is acting competitively by using its control over the App Store to their advantage at the expense of app developers and small businesses,” Facebook spokeswoman Ashley Zandy said as he was asked for comment on the lawsuit.
While there is no guarantee that Facebook will continue with the lawsuit, the fact that they are preparing for a legal battle shows how intense the years-long feud has become.
The tension dates back to at least 2010, when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs appeared on stage during a conference and with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the audience, made a sharp distinction between his company’s view of privacy and that of “some of our colleagues” in Silicon Valley.
Jobs, who passed away a year later, stressed the importance of asking users for permission to collect their data.
“I believe that people are smart and that some people want to share more information than other people do,” he said. Ask them. Ask them every time. Let them tell you to stop asking them if they get tired of it. Let them know exactly what you are going to do with their data. ‘
Jobs’ statement outlined Apple’s new policy, and Apple used it in their promotional materials during Thursday’s announcement.
Tensions between Apple and Facebook have increased and flowed over the past decade, but flared up again in 2018 after Apple CEO Tim Cook began warning about a ‘data-industrial complex’, and the danger of people taking control of their data lost to trading companies. and sell it for profit.
Cook repeated the warning at the conference on computers, privacy and data protection on Thursday, and then took a few not-so-thin veiled shots on Facebook and other services that prioritize user engagement over user privacy – even for the sake of to give because they aroused a “polarization”. , losing confidence and … violence. ‘
“At a time of unbridled disinformation and conspiracy theories used by algorithms, we can no longer turn a blind eye,” he said. “The social dilemma cannot become a social catastrophe.”
Meanwhile, Facebook is gradually building up its case against Apple. Last August, social media giant joined Epic Games and other companies to accuse the iPhone maker of hurting small businesses with the long 30-year commission money in the app. Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, has already filed an antitrust case against Apple.
This is all because Apple and Facebook are being investigated in Washington by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission under surveillance.
