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By Ben Popken
A co-founder of Facebook is calling on the government to dismantle the technology giant in an opinion piece published in the New York Times on Thursday morning.
"The Facebook that exists today is not the Facebook we founded in 2004," said Chris Hughes, who started Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg in their Harvard dorm, following the publication of his article on the same subject.
"And the one we have today, I think, is way too big. It's way too powerful. And more importantly, its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is not responsible, "Hughes said of his former business partner, whom he again called a" friend. "
To learn more about this interview, listen to NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt at 6:30 pm. AND.
"I have been friends with Mark and many other Facebook people for a long time. And you know, who knows? We can always be friends, we can not be friends. You may have disagreements with certain types of friends. And then there are friends you can not, "said Hughes.
Hughes joins a growing group of privacy advocates and right-wing and left-wing politicians, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Presidential Candidate, and Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who have called for a federal antitrust action against Facebook.
The atmosphere in Washington has become envenomed against the old darling of technology in recent years, as a result of the leak of personal data of millions of users and the disclosure that his platform was manipulated by Russian propagandists to spread false information and undermine democracy.
More than a dozen congressional hearings have apologized to Zuckerberg, leaders and lawyers, and a pledge to avoid further damage, but guards do not think society has gone far enough and argues that it abuses its power.
In March, Warren said that she would ask federal regulators to "end anti-competitive mergers" as president, including forcing Instagram and WhatsApp to leave their Facebook account. She also called for the separation of Whole Foods and Zappos from Amazon and Google's DoubleClick ad network.
Warren also called for Internet platforms to be designated as public services, forcing companies like Facebook to be further prosecuted and fined if they breached the privacy laws. private life.
According to CNBC estimates, Zuckerberg and a small group of insiders control nearly 70% of Facebook's voting shares. Zuckerberg personally controls nearly 60%. If he left his position as CEO tomorrow, he would continue to control the company through his shareholding.
But Hughes said Zuckerberg would not exercise a single power.
"I do not think Mark Zuckerberg can fix Facebook," said Hughes. "I think only the government can do it – by making the market more competitive, by separating it and creating these privacy restrictions."
Hughes called on the government to step in and take several drastic measures: First, cancel the mergers with Instagram and WhatsApp, for which he said the FTC had "wrongly approved", turning them into private companies competing with Facebook. Second, create a new agency to regulate technology in addition to the FTC.
He also said that courts should develop guidelines for what is termed violent or hate speech, "decisions that business executives currently take on their own". The proposal echoed those of Warren and other Facebook critics.
Hughes said the issue was non-partisan and cited the break-up of telecommunications giant AT & T by President Ronald Reagan as precedent.
Although Zuckerberg himself has called for government regulation of the company, Hughes said he thought the Facebook CEO wanted the process to be "respectful of Facebook's interests and goals" and that "it's a good thing." he would remain on the eve of his dissolution.
Ben Collins contributed.
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