Tim Cook Criticizes Facebook at Brussels International Data Privacy Day

Apple CEO Tim Cook has just escalated the ongoing feud between his company and Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook, criticizing both during a speech in Brussels for International Data Privacy Day.

While Cook made no direct mention of the social media platform or its founder and CEO, it’s clear that his comments are a direct response to Facebook’s attack on Apple and its new privacy policy, which Zuckerberg claims is “anti-business” as “technology does not need vast troves of personal data stitched together across dozens of websites and apps in order to succeed,” the Apple CEO said. “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,” he continued. “In a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories 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.” Concluding, Cook added that “It is long past time to stop pretending that this approach doesn’t come with a cost. A polarization of lost trust, and yes, of violence,” and that ”A social dilemma cannot be allowed to become a social catastrophe.”

Elsewhere in tech, SpaceX’s latest Starship test launch has ended in an explosion once again.