Pam Martens and Russ Martens: October 19, 2021 ~

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Testifies Before Congress on April 10, 2018 on His Company’s Failings

Today, five Democratic Senators, including the Chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Sherrod Brown, sent a scorching letter to Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman and CEO of Facebook, telling him that Facebook “cannot be trusted to manage a payment system or digital currency when its existing ability to manage risks and keep consumers safe has proven wholly insufficient.” The letter demanded that Zuckerberg back off plans to launch a cryptocurrency and digital wallet.

The letter was authored by Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), and Tina Smith (D-Minnesota).

The Senators wrote:

“Given the scope of the scandals surrounding your company, we write to voice our strongest opposition to Facebook’s revived effort to launch a cryptocurrency and digital wallet, now branded ‘Diem’ and ‘Novi,’ respectively. In October 2019, Senators Schatz and Brown wrote to members of the Diem Association’s predecessor, the Libra Association, and expressed deep concerns about the risks the project posed to consumers and the financial system. Facebook subsequently shelved Libra amid regulatory scrutiny, but you did not address our concerns before resuming this endeavor.”

The Senators also reminded Zuckerberg that Facebook has a history of “moving fast and breaking things” and “misleading Congress in order to do so.”

For context on today’s letter to Zuckerberg, see our earlier report on Zuckerberg’s plan for the Libra digital currency: “Senator Compares Facebook’s Libra Association to Spectre in James Bond Movie.”