The co-founder of Facebook proposes to divide the company because it is too powerful

One of Facebook's co-founders, Chris Hughes, asked to divide the company into three and accused his current CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, of sacrificing users' privacy by giving priority to the benefits of their "clicks".

"It's time to dismantle Facebook", and divide the social network, its initial activity, Instagram and WhatsApp applications, writes Hughes, already removed from the company, in a column of opinion published in the The New York Times this Thursday.

"We are a nation with a tradition of control over monopoliesit does not matter how well the leaders of these companies are well intentioned. Mark's power is unprecedented and he's anti-American, "he wrote.

The text is accompanied by a picture of young Zuckerberg and Hughes on the campus of Harvard University in 2004, the year Facebook was launched.

Hughes believes that Zuckerberg is a "good person," but acknowledges that he is "angry that his focus on growth is causing him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks," he writes.

What do you propose? He suggested to the government to hold Mark to account: "He has created a Leviathan that eliminates the spirit of society and limits the choice of consumers," said the Economic Security Project, now a member of the United States. States, and the Roosevelt Institute.

The social network, which has bought other near-monopolistic platforms, such as Instagram and WhatsApp, is involved in a series of scandals due to the misuse of its users' private data, which could result in a considerable fine on the part of the Federal Regulatory Agency. Commercial, the FTC. The amount of this fine can reach at least $ 3 billion.

The Hughes proposal

More precisely Hughes suggests that Instagram and WhatsApp be split "in a short time" on Facebook. These applications could potentially be on the stock market.

"Even after a dismantling, Facebook would remain extremely profitable, with billions to invest in new technologies, "he explained.

According to Hughes, dismantling would cost the US authorities nothing and offer "higher standards of privacy protection".

Hughes also explained about Zuckerberg: "It's a human being, but it's his very humanity that makes his power out of control, so problematic."

According to him, only Zuckerberg – who controls 60% of the shares – can decide to configure Facebook's algorithms to modify what users see in their press service or their privacy settings.