SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 29 — Apple Inc Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook yesterday criticised polarisation and misinformation on social media, intensifying a conflict between the iPhone maker and Facebook Inc.

In remarks delivered at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference, Cook critiqued apps that he argued collect too much personal information and prioritise “conspiracy theories and violent incitement simply because of their high rates of engagement.”

“At a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories juiced by algorithms, we can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement — the longer the better — and all with the goal of collecting as much data as possible,” Cook said.

He did not name Facebook, but the two companies have been in a high-profile dispute. Apple is preparing to implement privacy notifications that many in the digital advertising industry believe will cause some users to decline to allow the use of ad-targeting tools.


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• Vietnam is likely the top-performing Asian economy in 2020 — a feat that was achieved without a single quarter of economic contraction.
  
• Government estimates showed the Vietnamese economy growing 2.9% last year from a year ago, better than China’s forecast-beating 2.3% growth during the same period.
  
• Manufacturing was widely credited for Vietnam’s outperformance, with production growing on the back of steady export demand.