Meta CEO mocks Apple for 'sitting on' iPhone 20 years later despite doing the same with Fa...

AppleInsider

During an interview with Joe Rogan about Meta's abandonment of fact-checking and changing rules to allow hate speech, Meta's CEO targeted Apple for lacking innovation since the iPhone.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the Joe Rogan Podcast

Meta has always had a bone to pick with Apple, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is never afraid to discuss the company in interviews. The latest wide swing comes after a perceived lack of innovation, over-reliance on iPhone, and use of proprietary technologies.

The interview itself is covered in detail by 9to5Mac's Chance Miller, breaking down specific segments of the interview. I want to dive into a few of the things Zuckerberg said about Apple.

First, he shares how he's happy that the iPhone exists and how Facebook must have been written around the same time Steve Jobs was working on the device in 2004. The success of the iPhone has always been a bit of a sticking point for Facebook, as it thrives on user data and there's nothing more private than what a user has on its device.

The idea was so powerful that Facebook tried to make its own phone via HTC and several Apple engineers it hired. Ever since that flop, Facebook, now Meta, has tried to find new ways to gather the valuable iPhone user data either through manipulating users to install a VPN or via the EU DMA.

Apple has always taken a strong stance against Facebook and its blatant disregard for user privacy to the point that it targets Facebook's entire business model in many of its updates.

So when Zuckerberg says that Apple's innovations are frozen in time on a product that came out 20 years ago, it's easy to see where that bitterness is coming from. It seems lost on Zuckerberg that his company also released a product 20 years ago that lacks innovation and stands as the profit center for Meta.

Then, of course, Zuckerberg goes in after Apple's "tax" that apparently stifles business and would allow Meta to essentially double its profits if it didn't exist. It's something Facebook has taken issue with before, even trying to bypass Apple's commission with external links.

Apple Vision Pro is a fully-immersive headset, which is a very different product from Meta Ray-Bans

He continues by suggesting Apple Vision Pro is a more expensive yet worse version than the Meta Ray-Bans, which aren't even in the same product category. He may be confused since he said similar things about how the Meta Quest was also better than Apple's premium headset. Find our comparison here.

To be fair, he does say Apple Vision Pro's sharp screen makes it a better movie viewer than Meta Quest, but it is terrible for interactions and gaming. However, he forgets that Apple Vision Pro is also an excellent productivity and work tool, something Meta Quest just cannot compete with.

The conversation seems to imply that Apple has run out of innovative ideas, that instead it chases other product categories in the market like headsets and glasses. Zuckerberg apparently isn't aware that most of his company's properties are built on stealing ideas from Snapchat, TikTok, and most recently X by absorbing its horrific views on humanity and moderation.

Zuckerberg and Rogan then cover RCS and blue bubbles, where Zuckerberg shares his annoyances with how kids treat colored bubbles as a status symbol. Then he goes on to say he almost exclusively uses WhatsApp, Facebook's own walled garden of messaging services.

The Apple bit of the interview starts around the two-hour and twenty-minute mark, embedded below. It starts with Rogan talking about switching to Android.

Meta owns Facebook, Instagram (via acquisition), Threads (Twitter clone), WhatsApp (via acquisition), and Oculus Quest (via acquisition), and its apps are used by a large percentage of the world's population. Despite its size, influence, and the mountains of data it has at its disposal, it never seems to be enough, and since Apple promotes privacy, Meta is often at odds with the company.

The interview comes after Zuckerberg told the world that Meta was abandoning fact-checking in a move that mimics Elon Musk's X. The company also controversially changed its policies to allow slurs, hate speech, and other language directed at the LGBTQ+ community in posts and groups in the name of "free speech."

The company is abandoning its DEI initiatives and has faced incredible backlash from the changes. Many employees have quit, and Google searches for "how to leave Facebook" have gone up 5,000x.

These changes are a clear attempt to gain favor with the president-elect, Donald Trump, as each of the calls echoes his sentiments and that of his party. Apple CEO Tim Cook has also sought to gain good graces with him, though through less dramatic acts like meeting for a dinner or donating $1 million of his own money to the inauguration fund.

Mark Zuckerberg will likely continue to have problems with Apple going forward, but it remains to be seen if Meta's earned favor with the president-elect will help influence future action against Apple. Regulators are still eying big tech in the United States, and the next four years may see big changes based on who is currying favor.



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Chock_Mossley

I’m so annoyed about him
since he decided to transition from a Noong Series Android to wish dot com version of Elon

Stabitha_Christie

He and Musk both just scream insecurity. 

auxio

Seeing tech leaders like Zuck and Musk simply become mindless mouthpieces for the money which controls their companies just keeps reminding me how unique Jobs was. Seeing the bigger picture of humanity, your small role in it, having foundational principles, and sticking to a vision of how to move things forward. A lost breed in today's tech business world.

sconosciuto

TTPOS is going to be king for the next four years; the leaders of these respective companies owe it to their customers, employees, and shareholders to advocate for government policies that favor their companies regardless of who occupies the office and their fitness or lack thereof for the job.

The critical distinction between Cook and ZuckerMusk is that Cook isn’t selling out his company’s values  or dramatically changing how Apple does business to please His Lowness. ZuckerMusk are willing, even gleeful collaborators.

netrox

That is why I am working on deactivating my Meta accounts. I am so fed up with Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg and their stances on many topics that are simply incompatible with my values.  

leighr

The end of so called “fact checkers” is a welcome relief for true free speech. When one person, or group, has the power to decide what is ‘true’ or not, we are all in trouble. See exhibit one: China, or even worse, North Korea. We all need to fight against this sort of abuse of money and power, and while I am not a huge Facebook fan, I’m glad that they are following X’s lead in allowing free speech. 

Wesley Hilliard

leighr said:

The end of so called “fact checkers” is a welcome relief for true free speech. When one person, or group, has the power to decide what is ‘true’ or not, we are all in trouble. See exhibit one: China, or even worse, North Korea. We all need to fight against this sort of abuse of money and power, and while I am not a huge Facebook fan, I’m glad that they are following X’s lead in allowing free speech. 

I'm assuming this means that when a teacher graded your paper and marked an answer incorrect, it was a violation of your free speech? No one has the power to decide what is true or not. Reality is the only truth. But by making fact checking crowdsourced, you remove truth from fact, and I guess that's why they say we're in a post truth society. People only want to hear things they agree with, and everything else is deemed a lie, "fake news."

It is tragic how bad things have become. People mistrusting professionals, believing conspiracies, hating everything different from themselves.

It is tragic. I mourn the death of knowledge, of fact, of reality, of compassion. The only thing left is greed and hate in the people that follow him. It is pitiful.

sconosciuto

leighr said:

The end of so called “fact checkers” is a welcome relief for true free speech. When one person, or group, has the power to decide what is ‘true’ or not, we are all in trouble. See exhibit one: China, or even worse, North Korea. We all need to fight against this sort of abuse of money and power, and while I am not a huge Facebook fan, I’m glad that they are following X’s lead in allowing free speech. 

Only liars object to factchecking.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musk-worries-free-speech-advocates-calls-prosecute-researchers-cr-rcna179194

He ain’t gonna be your boyfriend no matter how much you simp for him

https://news.sky.com/story/elon-musk-accused-of-censoring-right-wing-x-accounts-who-disagree-with-him-on-immigration-13280740

Are you clueless, born yesterday, or knowingly pushing the Elon fanboi party line? Impossible to tell.

https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-05-24/under-elon-musk-twitter-has-approved-83-of-censorship-requests-by-authoritarian-governments.html


Looking forward to your inevitable “fAkE nEwS!!!!” retort 
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/elon-musk-s-x-boots-reporter-from-site-after-she-debunks-bizarre-conspiracy-theory-claiming-mogul-uses-burner-account/ar-AA1x4oxV


In the final days of the campaign TTPOS’ former chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly, briefly made news when he said his former boss fit the definition of a fascist. Sadly the warning fell flat, coming off as little more than a history lecture.

This is a drum I’ve been banging for some time now the more I have educated myself about fascism. Knowingly or not he’s aping what Benito did. He inspires a cult of personality unique to cult leaders and despots. His most fanatical believers are willing to commit violence on his behalf. He doesn’t have to explicitly command these acts and he knows it. His goons have successfully intimidated elections officials and politicians fearful of violence, doxxing, and harassment from his deranged fans. He praises and sympathizes with autocrats like Putin and Kim.

He said he wanted US military leaders to unquestioningly do his bidding like Hitler’s generals did. I don’t expect you to know that Hitler was disastrously bad at military strategy, in case you’re not sufficiently concerned about a commander-in-chief speaking well of Hitler.

Fascism always turns out poorly in the end. 80 years ago Americans fought a historic conflict to defeat it.

TTPOS is a textbook fascist and Muskerberg are willing collaborators. You, like all other brainwashed Muskerberg boosters, are useful idiots.

mac'em x

leighr said:

The end of so called “fact checkers” is a welcome relief for true free speech. When one person, or group, has the power to decide what is ‘true’ or not, we are all in trouble. See exhibit one: China, or even worse, North Korea.

The most laughably clueless understanding of "fact checker" I could ever imagine. Because to check facts is, precisely, to not decide what is or isn't true. It's to let reality provide the answer. A task performed by checking facts. Fact checking, if you will.

Then this guy tells us to check the examples of China and North Korea, which... Wait a second! He's checking the facts surrounding China and North Korea? In his world, that means HE'S DECIDING WHAT IS TRUE! Oh nos! WE ARE ALL IN TROUBLE!
 
This is what happens when you pack up your mind and relocate it to lollipop la-la land.

9secondkox2

“Sitting in the iPhone? 

It’s constantly been evolved and to this day remains the best money can buy. 

That’s not “sitting.”

next he’ll say humans in general have been sitting on the wheel for thousands of years. 

charlesn

When you look up douchebag in the dictionary, there's a picture of Zuckerberg's face. I have to hand it to the movie, The Social Network, which really nailed what a soulless creep the guy truly is. True story: He was recently seen wearing a million dollar watch, weird for a guy who has never been into watches. Turns out he spotted a fancy Richard Mille model on the wrist of Indian kabillionaire Anant Ambani and described his reaction: ""You know, I never really wanted to get a watch. But after seeing that, I was like, watches are cool." That's like something a 13-year-old would say. But being Mark Zuckerberg he bought a million dollar watch to show that he was cool, too! What a dickwad. 

9secondkox2

leighr said:

The end of so called “fact checkers” is a welcome relief for true free speech. When one person, or group, has the power to decide what is ‘true’ or not, we are all in trouble. See exhibit one: China, or even worse, North Korea. We all need to fight against this sort of abuse of money and power, and while I am not a huge Facebook fan, I’m glad that they are following X’s lead in allowing free speech. 

Exactly. Especially when the so called fact checkers have the facts wrong.  

ilarynx

9secondkox2 said:

leighr said:

The end of so called “fact checkers” is a welcome relief for true free speech. When one person, or group, has the power to decide what is ‘true’ or not, we are all in trouble. See exhibit one: China, or even worse, North Korea. We all need to fight against this sort of abuse of money and power, and while I am not a huge Facebook fan, I’m glad that they are following X’s lead in allowing free speech. 

Exactly. Especially when the so called fact checkers have the facts wrong.  

Liars hate fact checkers. 

Pizzagate much? 

https://apnews.com/article/pizzagate-gunman-dead-police-shooting-north-carolina-81f0383fb55587350576b8265b7b5dd5

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-38156985

michelb76

>During an interview with Joe Rogan

Right, moving on.


>lacking innovation since the iPhone

Yeah, look at all the amazing competitor models, definitely not like everyone is waiting to copy Apple's next moves... /s

seneca72

Wesley Hilliard said:

It is tragic. I mourn the death of knowledge, of fact, of reality, of compassion. The only thing left is greed and hate in the people that follow him. It is pitiful.

I'm old enough to remember Bobby Kennedy and can only think his late father must be spinning in his grave.  Seen from this side of the pond, tragic is an inadeaquate description as we watch the death of the America we once knew, or at least thought we knew. 

nubus

20 years of Mark Nefarious tracking every kid on the planet while trying to look innocent is too much. His hoodies are stained and tired. His platforms are distributing hate and lies for profit while selling our privacy. FB is much worse than it used to be while iPhone is better than ever.

thedba

leighr said:

The end of so called “fact checkers” is a welcome relief for true free speech. When one person, or group, has the power to decide what is ‘true’ or not, we are all in trouble. See exhibit one: China, or even worse, North Korea. We all need to fight against this sort of abuse of money and power, and while I am not a huge Facebook fan, I’m glad that they are following X’s lead in allowing free speech. 

The earth is flat.

The moon landings were faked.

Vaccines cause autism.

The earth is 6000 years old.

Fact checking arguments such as these, in your opinion, is like turning us into North Korea?

davidlewis54

leighr said:

The end of so called “fact checkers” is a welcome relief for true free speech. When one person, or group, has the power to decide what is ‘true’ or not, we are all in trouble. See exhibit one: China, or even worse, North Korea. We all need to fight against this sort of abuse of money and power, and while I am not a huge Facebook fan, I’m glad that they are following X’s lead in allowing free speech. 

The problem with X free speech is, because it is anonymous, just means anyone can lie, cheat, offend with no repercussions.  Free speech is not any of those things: free speech necessitates making your opinion known, based on genuine facts.  Removing controls will simply generate more nonsense and not add to a genuine debate.  If you actually look at the controls on freedom in the west, particularly the US, it is not really much different from China and North Korea.  North Korea exists as it does because a decision was made during the Korean War, when the US interfered in another country’s affairs that it wanted to exclude itself from further interference.  This seems entirely reasonable to me. 

foregoneconclusion

North Korea exists as it does because a decision was made during the Korean War, when the US interfered in another country’s affairs that it wanted to exclude itself from further interference.  This seems entirely reasonable to me. 

FYI: North Korea has troops fighting for Russia in Ukraine. 

Stabitha_Christie

leighr said:

The end of so called “fact checkers” is a welcome relief for true free speech. When one person, or group, has the power to decide what is ‘true’ or not, we are all in trouble. See exhibit one: China, or even worse, North Korea. We all need to fight against this sort of abuse of money and power, and while I am not a huge Facebook fan, I’m glad that they are following X’s lead in allowing free speech. 

I respectfully disagree with your perspective, but our disagreement extends beyond mere fact-checking or the principles of free speech.  Discussing those things wouldn't really be productive.The crux of our disagreement lies in your perception of publicly traded companies and governments as interchangeable entities.  You assert that Meta, along with the governments of North Korea and China, constitutes a singular type of organization.In contrast, I hold the view that publicly traded companies and governments are fundamentally distinct entities, serving vastly different purposes.  It seems to me the actual discussion here isn't fact-checking, but rather a question of whether Meta can be classified as a government or if governments, in fact, operate as corporations.

 It is also worth noting that X regularly removes accounts and posts that Elon Musk doesn't like or disagree with. You seem to hold contradictory beliefs here. You think one person shouldn't be deciding what can and cannot be said, but you also think that model should be the lead others should follow. It gives the distant impression that when you say "free speech", you simply mean "speech I agree with”.