Mark Zuckerberg Criticizes Apple For Riding Innovation, But Meta Faces Similar Accusations
JAKARTA In an interview with Joe Rogan, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg criticized Apple, accusing the company of stopping innovating since the launch of the iPhone two decades ago. However, this criticism has re-emerged allegations that Meta is also stagnant in its product development, especially Facebook.
Zuckerberg expressed diverse views on Apple's influence, praising iPhone's success, but also criticizing the company for relying too much on the product as the core of its innovation.
He also attacked Apple's business practices, particularly "Apple tax," a term that refers to the 30% commission Apple imposes on app developers for every transaction on its platform. Zuckerberg claims that these costs hinder business innovation and mentions that Meta can double its profits if there is no such policy.
Zuckerberg compared Apple's Vision Pro devices to Meta hardware, such as Meta Quest. According to him, although Vision Pro has a superior screen for watching movies, the device loses in terms of interactivity and gaming, which is the power of Meta Quest. However, Zuckerberg ignores Vision Pro's ability as a productivity tool, an area that cannot be matched by Meta devices.
Criticism of Apple has led to irony, given that Meta itself is also accused of stagnant innovation. Since rebranding into Meta and investing heavily in the metaverse, Facebook has remained the main driver of the company's revenue.
Meta is also known to often emulate features from its competitors. Starting from Snapchat's Stories, TikTok-style short videos, to Threads that imitate Twitter, all of this reinforces allegations that Meta replicates more often than innovates.
Apple and Meta have long clashed over user privacy. Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy introduced had a major impact on Meta advertising revenue, exacerbating relations between the two companies.
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Zuckerberg's criticism of Apple's privacy approach comes amid the controversy over Meta's own policies, such as the decision to stop fact-checking and relax content moderation rules. A new policy that allows hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community under the pretext of "freedom of opinion" has drawn widespread criticism.
Meta's decision is seen as an attempt to approach US President-elect Donald Trump, given that many of Meta's new policies are in line with Trump's rhetoric and his party. As a result, many Meta employees resigned, and Google's search for "way out of Facebook" increased by 5,000%.
The feud between Apple and Meta reflects broader tensions in the big tech industry. With regulatory strict oversight, Apple's respective strategies with a focus on privacy and Meta with decregulation and freedom of opinion can shape their future amid changes in the tech landscape.
While Zuckerberg continues to attack Apple, the big question remains: is Meta capable of innovating further from its heritage platform, or will it get caught in the same pattern? Meta's efforts to dominate the metaverse are still a big gamble whose results are not yet clear.