Apple's Tim Cook slams Zuckerberg over Facebook data scandal

Apple's Tim Cook slams Zuckerberg over Facebook data scandal

Apple boss Tim Cook pulled no punches when he was asked about Facebook's ongoing privacy scandal. 

Cook was in Chicago on Wednesday to debut Apple's newest iPad and unveil a slew of education-focused apps.

When asked what he would do if he were in Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's shoes, Cook replied with a smirk: 'I wouldn't be in this situation.'

Facebook continues to deal with the fallout from its massive data scandal, after it was revealed that 50 million members' data had been harvested without their knowledge. 

Cook's comments came as part of an interview with MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Recode's Kara Swisher that's set to air Friday on the network.

He also criticized Facebook's well-documented data collection techniques, which involve scraping vast amounts of personal user information, using it to build detailed user profiles and selling them to advertisers. 

'We could make a ton of money if we monetized our customers,' Cook explained. 

'If our customers were our product. We've elected not to do that.' '

We're not going to traffic in your personal life,' Cook said.

'Privacy to us is a human right, a civil liberty,' he added. 

Cook and Zuckerberg have sparred previously over the beliefs on privacy. 

In 2015, Cook criticized Silicon Valley companies who provide a service for free 'but actually comes at a very high cost' to the user when they have to forfeit personal data. 

Zuckerberg later responded saying that companies like Apple aren't actually in 'alignment' with the customers' best interests. 

If you were in alignment with them, then they'd make their products a lot cheaper,' Zuckerberg quipped.  

Later, Cook added that he believes the kind of user profiles that Facebook has built shouldn't exist.

Those profiles of consumers could be 'abused against our democracy,' in addition to being 'abused by advertisers as well,' he said.

In the wake of Facebook's privacy woes, many experts have suggested the need for some kind of government regulation to make sure it can't happen again.  

Like he has expressed previously, Cook said he believes the issues highlighted by Facebook's data scandal are 'so dire' that there must be some regulation. 

'The best regulation is self regulation,' Cook explained. 

'I do think that it is time for a set of people to think about what can be done here'. 

Zuckerberg is expected to testify on Capitol Hill in the coming weeks after US legislative officials repeatedly called for him to do so. 

Facebook also faces a probe by the Federal Trade Commission, after the agency said recent media reports highlighted 'substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook.'  

Hayes and Swisher even went so far as to ask Cook whether Apple would take action against Facebook, perhaps by removing the app from its App Store. 

'The question for us is, [does Facebook] meet the requirements of the App Store and do they meet their policy,' Cook said. 

'I think well-crafted regulation could change that'

'If that happened or we raised the bar some...we would have to look at it,' he added