Zuckerberg responds to Apple’s privacy policies: “We need to inflict pain”

Enlarge / Facebook co-founder, chairman, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg departs after testifying before a combined Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committee hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, April 10, 2018, in Washington, DC. (credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees close to him, "we need to inflict pain" on Apple for comments by Apple CEO Tim Cook that Zuckerberg described as "extremely glib."

This and other insights into an ongoing rift between the two companies appeared in a report in The Wall Street Journal this weekend. The article indicates that based on first-hand reports, Zuckerberg has taken Cook and Apple's public criticisms of Facebook's privacy policies, whether direct or indirect, as personal affronts.

For example, Cook publicly responded to Facebook's 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal by saying such a scandal would never happen to Apple because Apple does not treat its customers like products. When asked what he would do in Zuckerberg's position, he said, "I wouldn't be in this situation," calling Facebook's approach "an invasion of privacy." This was one of the comments that has led Zuckerberg to see Apple as an opponent.

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