Row with Facebook worsens as Apple chief slams social media

SAN FRANCISCO • A feud between tech giants heated up yesterday as Apple's chief executive implied Facebook's business model promotes disinformation and violence, while the social network is reportedly preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple.

The suit accuses Apple of abusing control of its App Store by requiring outside app developers, such as Facebook, to abide by rules not applied to its own apps, tech publication The Information reported.

"As we have said repeatedly, we believe Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using their control of the App Store to benefit their bottom line at the expense of app developers and small businesses," Facebook told Agence France-Presse, declining to confirm or deny the report.

Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook yesterday criticised polarisation and misinformation on social media.

In remarks delivered at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference, Mr Cook critiqued apps that he argued collect too much personal information and prioritise "conspiracy theories and violent incitement simply because of their high rates of engagement".

"At 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," Mr Cook said.

He did not name Facebook, but the two companies have been in a high-profile dispute.

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.

"It is long past time to stop pretending that this approach doesn't come with a cost - of polarisation, of lost trust and, yes, of violence," Mr Cook said.

"A social dilemma cannot be allowed to become a social catastrophe."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS