Apple CEO Tim Cook recently launched an attack on Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook over data privacy. Speaking at the Brussels’ International Data Privacy Day Cook said ‘If a business is built on misleading users on data exploitation, on choices that are no choices at all, then it does not deserve our praise. It deserves reform.’
Cook’s speech comes right after Facebook took out full-page ads in various newspapers criticizing Apple’s new privacy changes.
Apple is preparing to implement privacy notifications that many in the digital advertising industry believe will cause some users to decline to allow the use of ad-targeting tools.
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.”
Speaking out against bad practices in Tech and user data collection Cook said:
“Technology does not need vast troves of personal data stitched together across dozens of websites and apps in order to succeed. Advertising existed and thrived for decades without it, and we’re here today because the path of least resistance is rarely the path of wisdom. We should not look away from the bigger picture and a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theory is 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.”
Too many are still asking the question, ‘How much can we get away with?’ When they need to be asking,
‘What are the consequences?’
He also spoke about misinformation that is rife on social media platforms and apps – which is a huge crisis of our time and one Facebook and WhatsApp need to address especially –and the grave consequences of inaction in that regard.
“What are the consequences of prioritizing conspiracy theories and violent incitement simply because of the high rates of engagement? What are the consequences of not just tolerating but rewarding content that undermines public trust in life-saving vaccinations? What are the consequences of seeing thousands of users joining extremist groups and then perpetuating an algorithm that recommends even more?”
“It is long past time to stop pretending that this approach doesn’t come with a cause; of polarization of lost trust, and yes, of violence. A social dilemma cannot be allowed to become a social catastrophe.”
Cook said all that without even naming Facebook. The words and practices all point to Facebook and Zuckerberg. We can all do the math.
Ethics and technology need to go hand in hand as Cook points out:
“We believe that ethical technology is technology that works for you,” said Cook.
“It’s technology that helps you sleep, not keeps you up. It tells you when you’ve had enough. It gives you space to create or draw or write or learn, not refresh just one more time.”
