Mark Zuckerberg is committed to the US Congress not to support Facebook's cryptocurrency without permission

The CEO and founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, committed to the US Congress not to endorse no movement of the Cryptocurrency Balance until local regulators approve it and answer questions from legislators on issues such as confidentiality, political announcements and child sexual abuse.

Facebook will not support the commissioning of Libra "unless all US regulators approve it," the businessman told the Financial Services Committee of the House of Representatives.

However, he said: "I want to point out that the Libra association (the organization of companies that will manage the operation of the currency, of which Facebook is a member) is independent and we do not control it".

The creator of the world's most widely used social network has posited a positive view of how cryptocurrency would strengthen the US presence in the world and give millions of people without a bank account a secure way to trade money in an affordable way.

"Libra will be supported primarily by dollars, and I think it will expand the US's financial leadership in the world, as well as our democratic values ​​and our (our) oversight." But if the US does "Do not innovate, our financial leadership is not guaranteed." he stressed.

His participation in the US Parliament had been preceded by strong criticism – from the G7, the G20, the French and German governments, central bankers and specialists – about the company's plans to prevent the use of Libra for problems such as money laundering or financing of illegal activities, such as drug trafficking.

Facebook had announced in June its intention to launch in 2020 – from the hands of the Libra association, originally composed of 28 members – a unique cryptocurrency, backed by currencies such as the dollar and the US dollar. So that people can send money and make payments via apps such as Whatsapp or Messenger.

Other topics analyzed by the Congress

In addition to the main problem, lawmakers took advantage of the hearing to investigate Zuckerberg about other Facebook-related issues that have been a growing concern in recent years.

Democrat Maxine Waters questioned the businessman on Facebook's advertising policy and his recently communicated decision do not apply the "rules of the community" -the set of rules that define what can be published and what not to do – campaign with politicians, allowing them to pay for the spread of false news and proven lies.

"The impact of this will be a massive crackdown on voters, and his claim to promote freedom of expression does not seem true," he said.

He also referred to campaigns from abroad who sought to interfere permanently in electoral processes, violations of the privacy of individuals and the lack of diversity of employees. business.

Among other problems, they also slipped into the merger in 2014 between the social network and Whatsapp and the transfer of personal data between the two services, which the company had insured would not occur.

In addition, Republican Ann Wagner said she was "worried" about Facebook's story about child sexual exploitation images on the platform, after the company reported have discovered millions of images and videos of violence.

"It's not working enough and end-to-end encryption is not going to help solve the problem," he said, criticizing Facebook's intention to boost communications privacy in its chat apps via cryptographic systems. .

A wide variety of issues have also been raised, ranging from the anti-vaccination stance of the platform (by a lawmaker who has declared support for this move) to discrimination of algorithms and lack of gender diversity among employees of the workplace. 39; company.