Apple CEO Tim Cook defended the tech giant data practices on Monday after a New York Times report said that Apple was among the tech firms that had access to Facebook users’ personal information.
“The things mentioned in the Times article about relationship status, all these kinds of things, is so foreign to us, and not data that we have ever received at all or requested — zero,” Cook told NPR.
Cook stated that the company is “not in the data business,” and that it only wanted to make it easier for the users of their phones to share photos on Facebook.
Cook’s remarks come as a response to a Times report that accused Facebook of forming data-sharing partnerships with tech giants including Apple and Samsung. According to the report, the partnership gave device makers access to users’ information, such as relationship status and political affiliation.
Meanwhile, Facebook in a statement on Monday said that the agreement with Apple and other firms allowed users to streamline their Facebook experience before the app store made it possible to do so.
“These partners signed agreements that prevented people’s Facebook information from being used for any other purpose than to recreate Facebook-like experiences,” Ime Archibong, Facebook’s vice president of product partnerships, said.
Facebook added that companies such as Apple did not abuse the access to information.
The social media giant was faced with intense scrutiny from users and lawmakers earlier this year after it was revealed that a British data firm Cambridge Analytica stole data from millions of users without their consent.
In response to that breach, Cook criticized Facebook’s privacy standards and called for the government to regulate the platform.
The Times wrote that Facebook shared personal user data with more than 50 companies, from which only Apple responded to the report.
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