Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has claimed that it is time to break the social networking site, arguing that it has too much ‘unchecked power’ and calling for WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook to be separate entities.
15 years ago, Hughes helped CEO Mark Zuckerberg to launch Facebook. In a recent op-ed issue in the New York Times, Hughes stated that Facebook has gained too much power and should be broken up and regulated instead.
“It’s been 15 years since I co-founded Facebook at Harvard, and I haven’t worked at the company in a decade,” Hughes wrote. “But I feel a sense of anger and responsibility.”
Hughes blamed Zuckerberg saying it he has a lot of ‘unchecked power’ and a lot of wealth that enables him to shut any competitors by buying them. “Mark has a unilateral control over speech. There is no precedent for his ability to monitor, organize and even censor the conversations of two billion people.”
“Mark’s influence is staggering, far beyond that of anyone else in the private sector or in government. He controls three core communications platforms — Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — that billions of people use every day,” wrote Hughes. “Mark is a good, kind person,” Hughes says, “but I’m angry that his focus on growth led him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks.”
Hughes mentioned that the solution for Zuckerberg’s uncontrolled power is simply government regulation. He stated that Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram needs to be spun out into separate businesses to create a healthier and more competitive market, wrote Futurism.
“I don’t blame Mark for his quest for domination,” Hughes wrote. “Yet he has created a leviathan that crowds out entrepreneurship and restricts consumer choice. It’s on our government to ensure that we never lose the magic of the invisible hand.”
On the other hand, current head of Facebook global affairs, Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg responded to the comments, saying ‘you don’t enforce accountability by calling for breakup of a successful American company’, as issued by a CNN reporter.
NEW: Facebook statement from Nick Clegg re: Chris Hughes oped pic.twitter.com/VAZpQturMs
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) May 9, 2019