Facebook Wasn't Ready for the Backlash Against Libra
October 17 2019 - 8:33AM
Dow Jones News
By WSJ City
David Marcus gathered a team inside Facebook's headquarters in
May to toast a skunk works project a year in the making: a
bitcoin-like payments system that the social-media giant figured
would upend the global flow of money. Five months later, the libra
project is on life support after high-profile backers dropped out
of the network under pressure from lawmakers and regulators.
KEY FACTS
-- Libra's bumpy rollout is a big setback to Facebook's efforts to reduce
its reliance on targeted advertising.
-- It is also a warning to technology giants that are expanding into
financial services.
-- Apple, Amazon and Google are each working on payments projects of their
own.
-- That could give them access to personal financial data at time when trust
in Silicon Valley is eroding.
-- To achieve its grand ambitions to mint a new currency, Facebook leaned on
a loosely knit alliance of companies.
-- But when libra came under regulatory fire, partners including Visa and
PayPal quickly jumped ship.
Why This Matters
Facebook shows no signs of abandoning libra; representatives
from its remaining backers met on Monday in Switzerland to move the
project forward. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to
answer questions about it at a congressional hearing next week.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 17, 2019 08:18 ET (12:18 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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