Facebook Co-Founder Chris Hughes Says Company Should Be Broken Up
May 09 2019 - 12:58PM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah E. Needleman
Chris Hughes, who helped Mark Zuckerberg create the company that
eventually became Facebook Inc., is calling for the social-media
giant to be broken up.
In a nearly 6,000 word opinion essay published online Thursday
in the New York Times, Mr. Hughes said the Facebook chief executive
has gained power that is both "unprecedented and un-American."
Mr. Hughes said Mr. Zuckerberg's focus on growth led him "to
sacrifice security and civility for clicks," and that if Facebook
remains intact, its monopoly over online social interaction "will
become even more entrenched."
Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe have stepped up their calls for
tougher regulation of internet giants in the wake of data and
privacy scandals, and as Facebook faces a possible U.S. Federal
Trade Commission fine of up to $5 billion over its consumer-privacy
violations.
At a hearing in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, all
five members of the FTC said Congress should pass a law addressing
data privacy. Lawmakers from both parties agreed but appeared
divided over how any such legislation would take shape.
Some lawmakers have urged more drastic action. Sen. Elizabeth
Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat running for president, has
called for the breakup of Facebook, Amazon.com Inc., and Alphabet
Inc.'s Google.
Members of Silicon Valley's elite, including senior executives
from Apple Inc., Google and Microsoft Corp., have called for some
form of greater oversight of the tech industry. So has Mr.
Zuckerberg, writing in a March op-ed published by the Washington
Post and Ireland's Independent that global regulators should take a
"more active role" in governing the internet.
Facebook has taken steps recently to address concerns about
online discourse, including by redesigning its website and mobile
app. The changes place more emphasis on private groups and visual
stories, and less on the platform's News Feed.
Mr. Hughes has maintained an active presence in politics since
exiting Facebook in 2007 to join former President Obama's first
election campaign. He is a co-chairman of the Economic Security
Project, which supports the idea of universal basic income, and is
a senior adviser at the Roosevelt Institute, a left-leaning
public-policy think tank.
In 2012, he purchased a majority stake in the New Republic and
spent years trying to turn the magazine into a more digitally
driven media company. He ended up selling the property in 2016.
In his essay, Mr. Hughes said he hasn't seen Mr. Zuckerberg in
person in nearly two years. He said his former Harvard classmate is
a "good, kind person" whom the U.S. government needs to hold more
accountable for the immense power Facebook wields.
"For too long, lawmakers have marveled at Facebook's explosive
growth and overlooked their responsibility to ensure that Americans
are protected and markets are competitive," Mr. Hughes wrote.
Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 09, 2019 12:43 ET (16:43 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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