Facebook co-founder calls to break the social media giant

Tech

Priya Wadhwa
Tech
Published:

Facebook co-founder calls to break the social media giant

Is there something like too much influence?

Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times calling for the company to break up. He says Zuckerberg has amassed too much power owing to Facebook’s success and ownership of the other most used apps—Instagram and WhatsApp.

Here are 5 takeaways from his article:

  1. Increasing power and influence of Zuckerberg, as he owns most of the company’s voting shares. This power can influence political outcomes, and derail companies for his benefit.

  2. This influence goes beyond Silicon Valley and the US. Through Facebook, Zuckerberg has the power to influence the world.

  3. Facebook was founded without the inkling of the potential power of the platform. As such, it has no regulation.

  4. The government has tools to regulate Facebook, such as anti-trust laws. But they haven’t used them yet.

  5. Facebook’s user base is too big for alternatives to compete. The only other company that has become relatively as popular is China’s WeChat, and even in that market, there are other competitors.

Hughes’ concern echoes that of Facebook’s early executives, like its first president Sean Parker and growth chief Chamath Palihapitiya, who have raised alarms about how Facebook is built to impact society. Read more about his op-ed here.