Mark Zuckerberg criticises App Store rules; says Apple deserves scrutiny

In a sign of growing uneasiness with Apple's rules related to the App Store, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that the iPhone maker needs to be scrutinised.

In an interview with Axios on Tuesday, Zuckerberg said that people should be looking into the "unilateral control" that Apple has over "what gets on phones, in terms of apps."

He, however, fell short of saying that it is a government agency that should investigate Apple in relation to its App Store rules.

Facebook recently acknowledged that Apple's upcoming iOS 14 may lead to over 50 per cent decline in its Audience Network advertising business.

Following this, Apple last week said it will postpone the full enforcement of privacy practices in iOS 14 software release.

The feature would require app developers to request users' permission to track them across apps for advertising purposes.

"We are committed to ensuring users can choose whether or not they allow an app to track them," Apple said in a statement on its developer website.

"To give developers time to make necessary changes, apps will be required to obtain permission to track users starting early next year," it added.

Facebook's Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai of Google and Tim Cook of Apple in July appeared before a US Congress panel that looked into these companies' market domination online.

(With inputs from IANS)