Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg's two major threats to power

No one in Silicon Valley has so much absolute power over a tech giant.

Mark Zuckerberg is co-founder, executive director, chairman of the board and majority shareholder of Facebook, the world's most popular social network.

For years, few have considered that it was a problem. But then, things started to go wrong.

"I know we do not have exactly the best reputation for privacy right now, to be clear," said Zuckerberg this week at the firm's annual developer conference in San Jose, California -United.

He smiled awkwardly, but the public did not like it, as this reputation left users annoyed, politicians angry, conspiratorial regulators and nervous investors.

Many wonder if Zuckerberg should not examine carefully if he is able to effectively maintain the many positions of his name.

And, like the United States As the United States approaches its next election cycle, the presidential candidates demand that Zuckerberg's power be diluted to a large extent.

Record well

After closed doors, Facebook and the Federal Trade Commission of the United States. (FTC in English) are in negotiations.

It is believed that the FTC is planning a record fine and Facebook, he told investors last week, has earmarked at least US $ 3,000 million to pay it. The question is: what else could the regulator ask for?

"I think Facebook has systematically and aggressively violated consumer privacy," said Ashkan Soltani, a former FTC technologist at the BBC.

And he added that he thought Facebook saw it as a necessary and affordable risk to grow his business as quickly as he did.

"I think society favors growth at all costs," said Soltani.

The FTC is under pressure to invent a punishment that will end up being very light. Even if the fine had risen to 5,000 million US dollars, as Facebook had announced, this would only represent one-third of what it would have earned over the past few years. first three months of this year.

According to the Washington Post and Politico publications, the key details to be considered in the FTC's decision will be additional supervision.

Politico reported Wednesday that the FTC was considering forcing Facebook to appoint a government-approved privacy officer within the company, among other measures.

And that Zuckerberg himself would be designated as the person responsible for enforcing these changes, an approach designed to empower him personally in case the process fails.

Investor Rebellion

And then there is the pressure of the company's investors.

While the stock price has recovered as a result of the serious setbacks of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Mark Zuckerberg has been asked to consider whether to hold the positions of general manager and chairman of the board of directors. Administration was excessive, especially in a business in crisis.

A group of investors is demanding that Zuckerberg be replaced by an independent chairman, facing the recent problems of the company.

But there is no possibility that this vote will be approved because Facebook's founder personally controls the majority of votes.

However, the vote could be seen as an opportunity for Zuckerberg to reflect on their roles, said Jonas Kron of Trillium Asset Management, who leads the movement.

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"I think he should think seriously about (resign)," Kron told the BBC.

"He has examples like those of Larry Page in Alphabet and Bill Gates in Microsoft on how it could be that a founder is not the chairman of the board."

"This may not be an easy step, but it's important because it would benefit shareholders, employees, users and communities around the world who use Facebook every day," he added. .

Facebook declined to comment on this article and sent the BBC the official response to the shareholder proposal.

"We believe that the current structure of our board of directors is in the interest of our shareholders, and our board of directors recommends that our shareholders vote against this proposal."

In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg had just had his first child with his wife Priscilla Chan and, at the same time, announced his intention to gradually move away from Facebook's day-to-day management.

With these problems, the transition may have to be done sooner than Zuckerberg would have expected.