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Mark Zuckerberg has a bone to pick with Apple.
The Facebook CEO took a shot at the company in a recently published Time story. The point of contention? A three-month-old quote from Apple CEO Tim Cook that may or may not have even been about the social network.
Zuckerberg took exception to Cook’s suggestion that Facebook’s users (and Google’s, too) are actually “the product” since their data is helping the company make money. “A few years ago, users of Internet services began to realize that when an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product,” Cook wrote.
Zuckerberg told Time he thinks that notion is silly.
“A frustration I have is that a lot of people increasingly seem to equate an advertising business model with somehow being out of alignment with your customers. I think it’s the most ridiculous concept. What, you think because you’re paying Apple that you’re somehow in alignment with them? If you were in alignment with them, then they’d make their products a lot cheaper!”
Zing!
The remark is hardly fodder for a Celebrity Deathmatch-style feud, but it’s a rare barb from Zuckerberg, who seems to be tiring of criticism about Facebook’s data use and the monetization of its user base. Conversations about Facebook’s handling of consumer data and privacy used to make Zuckerberg sweat. Now he’s fighting back — and talking a little smack, too.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
