New Delhi: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly asked his management executives to restrain from using Apple phones and rather use Android devices as it has more total users across the globe. However, a report from New York Times suggests that Facebook boss gave this order after Apple CEO Tim Cook made public comments criticising the social media giant in connection with Cambridge Analytica scandal. Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized Facebook in an MSNBC interview for being a service that traffics ‘in your personal life’. The interview with Cook took place in March where he also dismissed a question of what would he do if he were in Zuckerberg’s shoes dealing with the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal by saying, “I wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Giving it back to Apple CEO, Zuckerberg during an interview with Recode said, “I think it’s important that we don’t all get Stockholm syndrome and let the companies that work hard to charge you more convince you that they actually care more about you because that sounds ridiculous to me.”

Android phones are popular in many regions outside of the United States, including South America, Europe, Russia, South Asia, and parts of the Middle East. As of now, there is no official announcement of the order from the company nor it’s clear if Zuckerberg’s management team did switch to Android phones.

Facebook came under public and government’s radar earlier this year after international media outlets The Guardian and The New York Times published details of how Cambridge Analytica improperly extracted personal details from 87 million Facebook users without their permission. Cambridge Analytica is a digital consultancy hired by the US President Donald Trump during his pre-election presidential campaigns.

On the other hand, Apple CEO has been vocal about privacy rights and publically called out Facebook for its slapdash approach towards data privacy. When it comes to comparison between the two tech giants, Apple became the first $1 trillion company in history whereas Facebook's market value dipped more than $100 billion.