‘Among Big Tech, I don’t like Facebook the most’

In an episode of the podcast “Steve-O’s Wild Ride!”, Wozniak revealed that he and his wife had recently disabled their Facebook account because of privacy concerns. When they “like” a friend’s post, that interaction not only means connecting with someone they know, but it also reveals their interests to advertisers.

That’s more than enough to keep him away from the platform for the foreseeable future, and he’s also “a little scared” about Facebook’s impact on his life: “Among the Big Tech, I probably don’t. favorite Facebook”.

To defend his decision, Woziak referred to a 2018 blog post written by Facebook’s then-Chair of Product Management David Baser. Mr. Baser explained how Facebook and its partners collect and share personal information, even with people who don’t have accounts.

The Apple co-founder has been worried about Facebook’s privacy standards for some time, but the “tipping point” that led to his decision to disable his account wasn’t because of personalized ads in the News Feed. Instead, it comes from mindlessly browsing the web for months on social media.

“I started watching Facebook because I quite like videos of dogs and the people who save their lives. It forms a habit, I don’t like the habit because it’s addictive“.

Wozniak isn’t the only one concerned about Facebook privacy. In October 2021, Frances Haugen – former Facebook product manager – testified before the US Congress about the platform prioritizing user interaction over safety and mental health. She affirmed that Facebook represents “wrong choices, between connecting with your loved one online and personal privacy“.

According to Wozniak, he tends to stay away from social media, although he still uses TikTok, mainly to watch dog videos. Wanting to connect with friends and relatives, he still relies on Apple services. For example, he shares family photos in iCloud, no one can take away the data and know what he is doing for only 2 USD/month.

He thinks that if Apple can offer such a service for $2, Facebook should create a similarly cheap way for friends to communicate privately.

According to CNBC