Don't get me wrong, I am not an Apple 'fan boy'... infact, having just paid $30 for a 'lightening cable' (in anyone else's language, a lead) I am cognisant of being 'a hostage' to the Apple 'ecosystem'.

As the owner of an iPhone, iPad, Apple Pencil, Apple Watch, AirPods, MacBook Air etc., there are a number of Apple products I constantly need to charge using my various 'lightening cables' and nifty foldable wall charging plugs.

Not only that, but I use various services such as iCloud and Apple Pay (I draw the line at Apple Music).

It's not that I am obssessed with Apple - I do love their products - I simply can't be bothered with the mass transition/expense/hassle involved in extricating myself from all their 'stuff'..

I don't resent Apple for this, I respect them for it - they've got me right where they wanted!

I've been watching the privacy spat between Apple and Facebook with interest, and was initially dismissive of Tim Cook's (CEO of Apple) comments - 'You can't build a chaos factory, and then dodge responsibility for the chaos' - (a clear inference to FB) as petty and 'sour grapes'.

I've always been of the view: if you can make money from my data, then good luck to you - just so long as you keep providing me with awesome 'free' products (WhatsApp, Instagram, Gmail, Google Maps etc.).

However, the more I read about Facebook the more I wish they could somehow wrestle back control of this truly incredible platform - before it's subverted any further.

Whilst this following BBC article may sound trivial - compared to fake news, hate speech, the influence of elections etc. - it's another example of how vulnerable they are to malign influences...