Apple boss Tim Cook denies Facebook privacy scandal ties

'We weren't in the data business. We've never been in the data business'

Tim Cook speaks at the Apple Worldwide Developer conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California, U.S., June 4, 2018 (REUTERS)

Apple's chief executive has denied that the company collected personal data from Facebook users through a data-sharing partnership with the social network.

Tim Cook said it did not fit the tech giant's way of operating.

Partnerships between Facebook and around 60 device manufacturers over the past 10 years gave Apple and other companies "deep access" to user data The New York Times recently reported.

Facebook said the partnerships were "built on a common interest", adding that they were necessary to spread adoption of its social network before app stores were commonplace.

Mr Cook insisted his company never requested data from Facebook because it did not fit with Apple's way of operating in an interview with NPR during Apple's World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC).

"This is so foreign to us and not data that we have ever received at all or requested – zero," Mr Cook said. "What we did was we integrated the ability to share in the operating system, make it simple to share a photo and that sort of thing. So it's convenient for the user. We weren't in the data business. We've never been in the data business."

In a separate interview with CNN, Mr Cook said: "I think that the privacy thing has gotten totally out of control and I think most people are not aware of who is tracking them, how much they're being tracked and the large amounts of detailed data that are out there about them."

He added that Apple thought privacy was "a fundamental human right."

Mr Cook has previously been critical of Facebook's data practices and his latest comments serve to further distance Apple from the social network.

Apple's software chief Craig Federighi announced at WWDC that Apple was introducing tools to prevent Facebook tracking web users on iPhones and other devices.

To illustrate how the new feature for the Safari browser will work, Mr Federighi used Facebook specifically as an example of how the snooping warning will work.

"We've all seen these like buttons and share buttons," Mr Federighi said on stage earlier this week. "Well it turns out, these can be used to track you, whether you clock on them or not. So this year, we're shutting that down."