The explosive letter of Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook: asks to "break" the monopoly of Mark Zuckerberg – 05/10/2019

Chris Hughes, one of the four co-founders of Facebook, today called on the US government to "break" the monopoly of societywhich gives its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, an influence "far beyond that of virtually all private sector or government players".

"It's time to crack Facebook"Huges said in a comprehensive opinion piece published Thursday in the New York Times, in which he describes the "awesome" power of Zuckerberg – who was a friend and fellow at Harvard University – accumulated through the combination of market dominance and lack of regulatory oversight.

"Mark's influence is incredible, far beyond anyone in the private sector or government, controlling three key communication platforms, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, used by billions of people every day." , describes Huges.

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The businessman argues that "the Facebook directory works more like an advisory board than a supervisor because Mark controls approximately 60% of the voting shares"

"Only Mark can decide how to configure the algorithms from Facebook to determine what people see on their walls, what privacy settings they can use and even what messages are pbaded on, "said the man who created the social network 15 years ago alongside Zuckerberg , Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin.

In this line, he continues, Zuckerberg "lays down rules on how to distinguish violent and inflammatory speech from mere crime, and can choose to close a competitor when you buy it, block it or copy it. "

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The attention of Facebook CEO on the growth of the company led "to sacrifice security and courtesy for clicks", without thinking "how the News Feed algorithm could change our culture, influence the elections and empower nationalist leaders," he questioned.

The "explosive growth" of the company over the past decade has "astonished" lawmakers, who "neglected their responsibility to ensure the protection of Americans and the competitiveness of markets," said Huges.

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For this reason, he said, "the US government must do two things: break Facebook's monopoly and regulate the company so that it is more accountable before the Americans. "

For this, he proposes to use the antitrust laws to divide Facebook in several independent companies, starting with Instagram and WhatsApp, whose acquisitions should never have been authorized, he says.

(Source: Telam)