Facebook exec downplays Google row
In an interview Wednesday, the social network's product marketing chief says he's hoping problems can be quickly resolved.
PALO ALTO, Calif.--Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya said Wednesday that the social network wants to work with anyone, including Google, as long as the company respects privacy.
Palihapitiya called a recent tussle with Google over the search giant's new social-networking application Friend Connect a "tempest in a teapot."
"Google built an application that violated our terms of service so we asked them, like we do with all applications that violate our terms of service, to remediate," Palihapitya, vice president of product marketing, said here Wednesday in an interview after a press event.
"We temporarily blocked them until it's fixed. We're waiting for the application to conform to our terms of service," he added.
Palihapitiya's comments come days after Facebook Chief Mark Zuckerberg said he wants to sit down with Google to resolve issues surrounding the search engine's use of Facebook data.
Facebook and Google have been fighting over Google's Friend Connect service, which allows Web sites to add social-networking features. Facebook said the Google application violated its terms of service by redistributing Facebook user information to other developers without users' knowledge. Google denied the claims, and even took the step of putting up a primer on how its service works.
Facebook also recently announced that it would be extending its API to make data portable to external sites through Facebook Connect.
"Our focus is to ensure people have control over their information. We (blocked Google's Friend Connect) so third-party sites respect members' information," Palihapitiya said.
"As long as that happens we want to allow our users to share their information with everyone," he added. "We want to work with anyone. But the privacy model has to be respectful of users. "