Report: Mark Zuckerberg Said Facebook Has to 'Inflict Pain' on Apple in Privacy War

A recent report alleges that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff that Facebook needs to “inflict pain” on Apple in the ongoing privacy dispute between the two Silicon Valley giants.

Breitbart News has reported extensively on the latest tech giant battle, with Facebook and Apple warring over upcoming Apple’s privacy features. Facebook is reportedly planning to take Apple to court over allegations of antitrust relating to Apple’s iOS 14 privacy features.

Facebook has been working with outside legal counsel to prepare an antitrust lawsuit against Apple that claims the iPhone manufacturer “abused its power in the smartphone market by forcing app developers to abide by App Store rules that Apple’s own apps don’t have to follow.”

Facebook’s lawsuit is likely to focus on the changes Apple introduced in iOS 14 which include the App Tracking Transparency feature, which will launch within the next few months and require users to permit apps to track their data.

Now MacRumors reports that in 2018 in the midst of Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked how he would lead Apple if the company found itself in a similar situation. Cook replied that Apple would never be in such a situation thanks to its differing stance on privacy and user data.

Zuckerberg responded to Cook’s comments in an interview calling them “extremely glib” and “not at all aligned with the truth.” Zuckerberg was allegedly outraged by Cook’s comments and his influence on Facebook’s reputation and instructed his internal aides and team members that Facebook needs to “inflict pain” on Apple, according to sources who spoke anonymously to the Wall Street Journal.

During an earnings call last month, Zuckerberg called Apple an increasingly larger threat to Facebook and accused the company of using its platforms to interfere with how Facebook operates its own apps.
Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who leads the Republican’s efforts in the Senate antitrust subcommittee, told the Wall Street Journal that the feud between Apple and Facebook is at the “nexus of privacy and antitrust,” and that he doesn’t want to “impose regulation that just ends up protecting incumbents and entrenching monopolies.”