Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook will probably no longer be real friends in this life. For months, the two bosses have been criticizing the decisions of the respective counterpart, persecuting each other in interviews and conference presentations. Zuckerberg even had full-page newspaper advertisements run against Apple. The cause of Zuckerberg's anger is Cook's decision to use user privacy as a strategic marketing tool. But not only Apple and Facebook are increasingly publicly waging their rivalry. Microsoft and Google are also making it clear that solidarity among US tech giants is a thing of the past in the face of regulatory pressure. The competition among technology companies is getting tougher, the tone more unfriendly - and state regulation, state licensing laws and state contracts usually play a role.