Apple boss claims new rulings for the tech industry are ‘inevitable’

Apple boss Tim Cook claims new rulings for the tech industry are ‘inevitable’ in the wake of Facebook privacy scandal as debate over regulation rumbles on

  • Cook’s comments come as rival Facebook faces mounting political pressure
  • He admitted he isn’t a ‘big fan’ of regulation but the free market isn’t working 
  • He said  Congress will pass a bill on a new form of regulation for the industry
  • U.S. politicians have been debating regulation of the tech industry for two years

Apple boss Tim Cook has revealed that he believes new regulations for the tech industry are ‘inevitable’ following the Facebook privacy scandal.

Cook’s comments come as rival Facebook faces mounting political pressure as the debate surrounding regulation rumbles on.

During an interview that was aired on HBO yesterday, Cook admitted that although he isn’t a ‘big fan’ of regulation the free market is no longer working, reports the Financial Times. 

He said: ‘This is not a matter of privacy versus profits, or privacy versus technical innovation. That’s a false choice. ‘Generally speaking, I am not a big fan of regulation.

Apple boss Tim Cook has revealed that he believes new regulations for the tech industry are ‘inevitable’ following the Facebook privacy scandal (Cook at an Apple event in October)

‘I’m a big believer in the free market. But we have to admit when the free market is not working. And it hasn’t worked here. 

He added that he believes that at some point Congress will pass a bill on a new form of regulation for the industry.


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Before the interview was aired, Facebook grappled to contain the controversy surrounding the social media site following Russian interference and the data leak to Cambridge Analytica, as they were accused of dishonourable tactics.

Part of these tactics, first reported by the New York Times, was allegedly collaborating with Republican consultancy Definers to tarnish Facebook’s rivals on it’s behalf.

Cook’s comments come as rival Facebook faces mounting political pressure as the debate surrounding regulation rumbles on (pictured Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg)

These claims included posting articles suggesting that both Apple and Google carried out ‘unsavoury business practices’.

One of these smear articles called Cook a hypocrite for slamming Facebook for its privacy agenda.

Facebook has slashed claims that it paid the consultancy to issue negative articles about its competitors and has since ended its contract with them.

According to Definers their Apple work was financed by another technology company other than Facebook, reported the NYT Network.  

Cook said that he believes that at some point Congress will pass a bill on a new form of regulation for the industry (file photo)

Another claim made about Facebook is that bosses told their employees to scrap their iPhones in favour of Andriod devices, however they argued that this is because Andriod has the largest operating system. 

During the interview with the Axios website Cook was asked to explain why Apple received an estimated fee of billions of dollars per annum to be their phone’s default search engine. 

Cook was quick to defend the choice and urged that Google’s search engine was the best while drawing attention to what they have managed to do with the controls including private web browsing.  

Over the last two years U.S. politicians have been debating the best way to regulate the technology industry on topics such as privacy and political advertising.   

The companies they are debating on have slowly come to terms with the federal privacy legislation, in an apparent bid to deter from the strict rules of California.

Hoping to prove their new transparency some have also backed the Honest Ads Act, which covers political advertisement on social media. 

Cook previously targeted Facebook following the data leak revaluations, suggesting that Apple could massively profit from ‘monetising’ their customers. 

However he added that their customer is not their product and they have not elected to do that.

Facebook claimed on Thursday that Cook has ‘constantly criticised our business model.

Following the latest allegations against Facebook Democratic senators said they were ‘gravely concerned’ 

Amy Klobuchar, Mark Warner, Chris Coons and Richard Blumenthal said in a statement: ‘Both elected officials and the general public have rightfully questioned whether Facebook is capable of regulating its own conduct.’ 

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