As two of the largest tech companies in the world, Apple and Facebook are often at odds about how to handle sensitive subjects like user privacy. These differences often escalate into a war of words, as was the case this week when Apple blasted Facebook for “disregarding user privacy.”

The criticism came in a recent letter that Apple sent to a coalition of privacy groups explaining one of its new privacy features. Apple’s new tool would require users to allow developers to track how they use other apps. And while that would seem to infringe on their privacy, Apple took the opportunity to knock down Facebook instead, criticizing the company for its more personal tracking practices.

“Facebook and others have a very different approach to targeting,” Apple director of global privacy Jane Horvath said. “Facebook executives have made clear their intent is to collect as much data as possible across both first- and third-party products to develop and monetize detailed profiles of their users, and this disregard for user privacy continues to expand to include more of their products.”

For its part, Facebook responded strongly to Apple’s allegations, saying its rival “[claims] it’s about privacy, but it’s about profit.” Of course, this is a pretty funny criticism coming from Facebook. But no matter which company is more “right” in their little spat, it’s obvious that the industry at large needs to a better job of respecting users’ privacy.

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