Tim Cook says Apple’s customers are not its product, unlike Facebook

Enlarge / Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., speaks during an event at Lane Technical College Prep High School in Chicago, Illinois, on Tuesday, March 27, 2018. (credit: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with MSNBC and Recode on Wednesday that Silicon Valley, and notably Facebook, should be far more careful with its customers' data in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica disclosures.

"I think the best regulation is no regulation, is self-regulation," he said, according to Recode. "However, I think we’re beyond that here."

Cook reiterated points that he and former CEO Steve Jobs made previously, that Apple's business model—unlike Google, Facebook, and many other tech companies—is predicated on selling physical products rather than capturing data about customers.