
A Facebook co-founder in a New York Times editorial today declared the social networking giant has become a monopoly with too much unchecked power and said the federal government needs to break up the company.
The lengthy and pointed criticism from Chris Hughes, who left the company in 2007 and no longer owns stock, makes him the most high-profile Facebook veteran to call attention to the shortcomings of the company and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
"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 writes. "It is time to break up Facebook."
Hughes proposes spinning off Facebook-owned Instagram and WhatsApp into separate companies, unwinding mergers he argues the Federal Trade Commission should never have allowed. Facebook should also be banned from making additional acquisitions for several years, he adds, writing that the company has often stifled competitors by buying them or copying their ideas.
"Facebook's dominance is not an accident of history," Hughes writes. "The company's strategy was to beat every competitor in plain view, and regulators and the government tacitly — and at times explicitly — approved."
He also calls for Congress to establish a new federal agency charged with protecting consumers' privacy online and establishing guidelines for "acceptable speech" on social media. Zuckerberg's control over speech is "the most problematic aspect of Facebook's power," he writes.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine