Tesco
It’s Time to Break Up Facebook
Article

It’s Time to Break Up Facebook

Chris Hughes
The New York Times, 2019
Read the article

Read or listen offline

áudio gerado automaticamente
  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×
áudio gerado automaticamente

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Eye Opening
  • Engaging

Recommendation

What with data privacy scandals, fake news and Russian interference, Facebook finds itself in the middle of a growing storm. An increasing number of voices in US politics – as well as in economic and legal circles – have started to call for the breakup of the internet giant. Now Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has joined the chorus. He makes his case in a New York Times op-ed, which has become an instant must-read for anybody interested in the debate about the role of government in the social media space.

Take-Aways

  • Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wields unprecedented dominance over social networking and the rules and algorithms governing the online interactions of billions of users.
  • The fact that Facebook doesn’t charge users money shouldn’t prevent antitrust regulators from declaring it an illegal monopoly. Users “pay” Facebook by giving it their attention and user data.
  • Zuckerberg’s call for an independent commission to police the platform’s content and his push for encrypted private messaging may placate critics but won’t solve the problem of Facebook’s unhealthy market dominance.

About the Author

Chris Hughes is a former roommate of Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard and a co-founder of Facebook. 

Comment on this summary or Iniciar a Discussão