Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
- After Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes called for CEO Mark Zuckerberg relinquish his stranglehold on the industry and for the company to be broken up in a New York Times op-ed on Thursday, the tech giant has responded.
- "Facebook accepts that with success comes accountability. But you don’t enforce accountability by calling for the breakup of a successful American company," Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs and communication, said.
- Hughes is calling for a breakup of Facebook, which he says would involve spinning off its Instagram and Whatsapp acquisitions, and heavier government regulation around privacy controls.
- Facebook says its chief exec is already working with the government just fine: "Accountability of tech companies can only be achieved through the painstaking introduction of new rules for the internet. That is exactly what Mark Zuckerberg has called for. Indeed, he is meeting government leaders this week to further that work."
- Read the full Chris Hughes op-ed here.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
After Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes called for CEO Mark Zuckerberg to relinquish his stranglehold on the industry and for the company to be broken up, the tech giant has responded — and, surprise, it doesn’t agree.
"Facebook accepts that with success comes accountability. But you don’t enforce accountability by calling for the breakup of a successful American company," Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs and communication, said in a statement first given to CNN. "Accountability of tech companies can only be achieved through the painstaking introduction of new rules for the internet. That is exactly what Mark Zuckerberg has called for. Indeed, he is meeting government leaders this week to further that work."
In the bombshell, 6,000-plus word New York Times op-ed, Hughes chronicled the rise of Facebook and how his college roommate, Zuckerberg, amassed too much power, in his view, along the way.
"He’s human," Hughes writes of Zuckerberg. "But it’s his very humanity that makes his unchecked power so problematic."
The early co-founder is calling for a breakup of Facebook, which he says would involve spinning off its Instagram and Whatsapp acquisitions. Hughes also wants more government regulation to make Facebook more accountable to Americans, specifically regarding its privacy controls and handling of user data.
The social media giant is already facing up to a $5 billion fine by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its mishandling of user data, but some have called the penalty a mere slap on the wrist for a company worth over a half-trillion dollars.
Facebook’s fast response on Thursday put to rest any ideas that it would consider easily letting go of its hugely valuable Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions.
Others aren’t buying the company’s argument that just because it’s successful, it shouldn’t be broken up.
NOW WATCH: Elon Musk’s biggest challenge won’t be Tesla or SpaceX — here’s why
See Also:
- A Facebook cofounder says that Mark Zuckerberg’s power is ‘unprecedented and un-American’ in scathing New York Times op-ed
- Want to get rid of Facebook for good? Here’s how to do it.
- Mark Zuckerberg has ‘never had a real boss,’ and it’s one reason he turned down a $1 billion acquisition offer from Yahoo, Facebook’s cofounder says
Source: Business Insider – nbastone@businessinsider.com (Nick Bastone)