And it's spurred speculation that Apple could retaliate with the nuclear option: Banishing the Facebook app from Apple's app store.
The move would be virtually unprecedented in the modern tech business, and although there's a case to be made that Apple would be within its rights, the reality is much more complex.
In response to those comments, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ordered his company's management team to ditch their iPhones for rival devices running Google's Android operating system.
But tensions reached new heights this week after the TechCrunch report that Facebook has been paying consumers as young as 13 to install an app called Facebook Research.
An Apple representative told TechCrunch that Facebook's use of this channel for the Faceook Research app clearly violated the iPhone maker's rules.
That means not just the Facebook Research app, but pretty much all the internal apps Facebook employees rely on to do their jobs and to communicate everyday.
Read this: Chaos has reportedly erupted inside Facebook as employees find themselves unable to open the company's apps on their iPhones
As much as Facebook and Apple are at odds, the amount of money at stake will almost certainly encourage both sides to continue to deal with the other.
Original article