Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is one of the most outspoken people in the tech world. Recently, Wozniak admitted that Facebook was the technology company he disliked the most.
"Of all the Big Tech, Facebook is probably the number one I dislike the most," Wozniak said while speaking on the Steve-O's Wild Ride podcast, as quoted by CNBC, Sunday (27/3/2022).
Wozniak revealed that he and his wife recently deleted their Facebook account due to concerns over the privacy of their data. According to him, when giving likes to a friend's post, it is not a form of social interaction but is showing his interest in advertisers.
Wozniak cites a blog post by former Facebook Product Management Director David Baser explaining how Facebook and its partners collect and share personal information, even information belonging to people without a Facebook account.
"I read how they can take data and send it to Facebook, even when you are not using it. I believe this is not true, because you have to be honest so that everyone who uses it knows what they are doing," Wozniak said.
This 70-year-old man admitted that he had known Facebook's privacy policy for a long time, but that was not the main reason for deleting his account. Wozniak said he decided to delete his Facebook account after months of not being able to stop scrolling through social media.
"I started looking at Facebook because I like watching videos of dogs ... and seeing dogs being saved by humans. It's become a habit over time ... and I don't like habits, because that's a sign of addiction," Wozniak said.
After no longer having a Facebook account, Wozniak said he was trying to avoid social media. But he admits that he still uses TikTok, especially to find videos of his favorite dog.
To be able to communicate with family and friends without Facebook, Wozniak of course uses Apple's services. One of them is iCloud, which Wozniak uses to share photos with family.
Wozniak says he pays for iCloud service of $2 per month and can share photos easily without worrying about his privacy. He argued that if Apple could provide these services at a low cost, Facebook should also be able to provide similar services that prioritize privacy.
"It costs $2 per month, right? You share photos with albums, and other family friends can see them, and it's protected. It's private. No one can take that data and find out what you were doing," Wozniak said.