Zuckerberg defends advertising business model

In an interview with the US weekly magazine Time, Zuckerberg said he was frustrated that "a lot of people" increasingly saw advertising business models as being out of step with customer interests. "I think that's the most ridiculous notion."
Among other things, Zuckerberg was responding to a comment by Apple CEO Tim Cook that customers are ultimately the product when it comes to free ad-financed services, but this is completely different at Apple. "Our business is not based on having information about you. You are not our product," Cook said at the presentation of Apple's new privacy policy. Cook's comment was primarily aimed at Google, but also applies to Facebook's business model. Facebook was recently accused of marketing its customers as a product by its new Facebook competitor Ello.

Zuckerberg used the interview to attack Apple for his part. "Do you think that because you pay Apple something, you're suddenly in line with them? If that were the case, Apple would make its products much cheaper," said the Facebook boss. Facebook's idea is to connect everyone around the world. "You don't do that by having a service that people have to pay for." (SDA)

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