Facebook gets petulant after co-founder's call to break up the company

Co-founder Chris Hughes wants to break up Facebook. Facebook doesn't like that one bit.
By Jack Morse  on 
Facebook gets petulant after co-founder's call to break up the company
"I want the world / I want the whole world / I want to lock it / All up in my pocket / It's my bar of chocolate / Give it to me now" Credit: Justin Sullivan / getty

Facebook is not happy. Facebook, in fact, is downright upset.

You see, executives at the company awoke this morning to the most unpleasant of news. Specifically, the company's co-founder Chris Hughes published a thoughtful piece in the New York Times calling for U.S. regulators to break up the company on anti-trust grounds. And, well, Facebook didn't like that one bit.

Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg, former UK deputy prime minister and current head of Facebook global affairs/all-around buffoon, issued a petulant statement in response. Essentially, he told anyone that would listen, Facebook knows what's best.

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"Facebook accepts that with success comes accountability," he wrote in a statement published by Hadas Gold of CNN. "But you don't enforce accountability by calling for the breakup of a successful American company."

Clegg, of course, conveniently fails to understand that breaking up a behemoth such as Facebook is exactly how one enforces accountability.

"Accountability of tech companies can only be achieved through the painstaking introduction of new rules for the internet," he continued. "That is exactly what Mark Zuckerberg has called for. Indeed, he is meeting Government leaders this week to further that work."

We had better listen to Nick, or he might just take the ball and go home. It is Facebook's ball, after all, as the company is so fond of reminding everyone.

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Jack Morse

Professionally paranoid. Covering privacy, security, and all things cryptocurrency and blockchain from San Francisco.


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