This Friday, January 10, 2025, Mark Zuckerberg gave a long interview to Joe Rogan, famous podcaster and supporter of Donald Trump. During the interview, the founder of Meta made a series of controversial remarks, notably assuring that he intended to inject more masculine energy into his company.
“Masculine energy is good. Society is full of it, but corporate culture tries to move away from it. All these forms of energy are positive, but a culture that gives a little more emphasis to aggression has its merits,” says a completely transformed Mark Zuckerberg.
Also read: Mark Zuckerberg tackles the AI strategy of OpenAI, Google and others
Meta’s political turn
In the wake of Zuckerberg’s transformation into a fervent defender of masculinity, Meta chose to end its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. Clearly, the Menlo Park giant will stop favoring companies run by people from minorities when choosing its suppliers.
According to an internal Meta memo relayed by Axios, “the term “DEI” has become politically charged with meaning, particularly because some see it as preferential treatment of certain groups to the detriment of others.” As our colleagues at the New York Times report, Meta has also removed the periodic protection dispensers from the men’s toilets on its premises. These were intended for transgender employees.
As part of his conservative shift, Mark Zuckerberg also made the decision to end Meta’s fact-checking program. The firm will now entrust content moderation to the community of users, like X, the version of Twitter remodeled by Elon Musk. The company also took advantage of this to relax its moderation policy by authorizing Internet users to make “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation.”
These announcements should please Donald Trump. As the inauguration of the new president approaches, Mark Zuckerberg seems to want to get closer to the Republican, who has made freedom of expression one of his priorities. Meta, which banned Donald Trump from Facebook after the assault on the Capitol in 2021, now seems to adopt a more conciliatory posture towards the new administration, in the wake of Elon Musk and part of Silicon Valley. Mark Zuckerberg also believes that “the recent elections mark a cultural turning point, where freedom of expression once again becomes a priority”.
Also read: Meta’s AI bots cause consternation on Facebook and Instagram
Zuckerberg criticizes Apple again
Furthermore, Mark Zuckerberg took the opportunity to crush Apple. Visibly full of masculine energy, the billionaire estimated that the Californian giant no longer has “nothing great has been invented in a while”. According to him, Apple’s latest notable invention is none other than the iPhone:
“It’s like Steve Jobs invented the iPhone and now they’re just sitting on it 20 years later.”
The creator of Facebook neglects to mention Apple’s many successes during the Tim Cook era, such as the Apple Watch, AirPods or even Macs with an Apple Silicon chip. To reduce its dependence on the iPhone, Apple has increased its sources of income, in particular by launching subscription services, such as Apple Music.
-Mark Zuckerberg does not miss the opportunity to once again discuss the Vision Pro, one of the competitors of his Quest headsets. Here again, the forty-year-old displays his contempt for Apple by reducing the space computer to an accessory “really good for watching movies”. This is not the first time that the entrepreneur has tackled the Vision Pro. Last year, he already felt that the Vision Pro was the result of too many compromises and that it did not equal the Quest 3.
A story of money and innovation
Above all, the boss of Meta multiplies the criticism against the economic model of the App Store. As a reminder, the Cupertino giant charges a 30% commission on all purchases made through its store. This policy represents a brake on innovation, believes Mark Zuckerberg. This is why he says Apple makes money “by bleeding people” and developers.
According to him, the App Store model is just one example of Apple’s strategy of stifle innovation from other companies. Zuckerberg also takes the example of “AirPods, which are cool”but which represent the way in which Apple has “completely hindered the ability for anyone to build something that can connect to the iPhone in the same way”.
“There are many companies in the world that could make great headphones. However, Apple uses a specific protocol built into the iPhone, which allows AirPods to connect to it seamlessly. This experience is much more seamless thanks to this exclusive integration. But Apple prevents other manufacturers from using this protocol. If this restriction did not exist, there would probably be much more efficient competitors to AirPods »assure Mark Zuckerberg.
The founder of Meta explains that he asked Apple if it was possible to connect his Ray-Ban smart glasses, which have a Bluetooth connection, in the same way as AirPods. Simply place the headphones next to an iPhone to create a stable and smooth wireless connection. Unsurprisingly, Apple refused for security reasons. For Zuckerberg, it is a pretext helping Apple to maintain total control over its products. Finally, the billionaire prophesied the fall of Apple. According to him, Tim Cook’s group will end up being “beat by someone” because of its lack of innovation. He expects the Apple debacle to happen sooner rather than later…
Coming from the founder of Meta, the criticism seems a bit paradoxical. Indeed, the group at the head of Facebook has always relied on a strategy aimed at stifling all attempts at competition. Mark Zuckerberg’s empire has indeed made a habit of buy all the companies that may present a threat, such as Instagram or WhatsApp. Furthermore, Meta has also made a name for itself by mimicking the competition, for example with Threads, a shameless copy of X.
Unlike Meta, Apple has no intention of ending its diversity programs. Apple’s board of directors has indeed spoken out against a shareholder proposal aimed at burying the programs in the wake of Trump’s election.
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