Mark Zuckerberg’s power is ‘unprecedented and un-American’, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes says, calling for social media network to be broken up
- Platform is facing increasing scrutiny from regulators worldwide over privacy, hate speech and misinformation issues
- Company is seeking to settle year-old investigation by US authorities and expects to spend up to US$5 billion on penalty
Facebook Inc co-founder and former Mark Zuckerberg roommate Chris Hughes called for the break up of the world’s largest social media network in an opinion piece in The New York Times on Thursday.
Hughes joins US lawmakers who have also urged antitrust action to break up big tech companies as well as federal privacy regulation. Facebook has been under scrutiny from regulators around the world over its data-sharing practices and hate speech and misinformation on its networks.
“We are a nation with a tradition of reining in monopolies, no matter how well intentioned the leaders of these companies may be. Mark’s power is unprecedented and un-American,” Hughes wrote in his piece in The Times.
Facebook’s social network has more than two billion users across the world. It also owns WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, each used by more than a billion people. Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.