We got zero data from Facebook, says Apple CEO Tim Cook on recent report. (Image source: AP)
Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that the company never got any data from Facebook in light of the recent report in The New York Times, which said the social network had data-sharing deals with device makers like Apple, Samsung, Amazon, etc. Tim Cook made the remarks to the NPR and said that Apple has never been in the data business.
According to The New York Times , Facebook user data about relationship status, religion, political learning, etc was shared between the social network and over 60 smartphone manufacturers. Apple, which is known to talk about stress on user privacy and data protection is one of those mentioned in the list.
Tim Cook in his response said, “The things mentioned in the Times article about relationship statuses and all these kinds of stuff, this is so foreign to us, and not data that we have ever received at all or requested — zero,” according to the report in NPR. He made the remarks on the sidelines of Apple’s WWDC developer conference in in San Jose, California.
Cook pointed out that all that Apple did in its operating system was integrate the option to share a photo directly to Facebook via iOS, without the user having to open the social network’s app. “So it’s a convenience for the user. We weren’t in the data business. We’ve never been in the data business,” he added.
The report in NYT claims that under the deal “Facebook allowed the device companies access to the data of users’ friends without their explicit consent,” and this was done even after the company had claimed it would not share information with outsiders. Facebook has also denied that these deals violated any contracts, and said there is no evidence of abuse by these device companies.
The Apple CEO’s comments come even as iOS 12 and macOS Mojave will come with increased privacy and security for users. Apple’s Safari browser will block tracking via ‘Likes’ ‘Shares’ in iOS 12 and macOS in order to protect user privacy and data. It should be noted that Facebook has admitted that it tracks users via these buttons and services.