Facebook co-founder says it's time "to break up" Facebook
Facebook logo and app (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - In a newly published op-ed in the New York Times, Facebook Co-Founder Chris Hughes said regulators need to "break up Facebook".
Hughes wrote that his Co-Founding partner and current Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg is a good person but questions his focus as far as the direction of the company is concerned.
"Mark is a good, kind person. But I'm angry that his focus on growth led him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks," writes Hughes.
"I'm disappointed in myself and the early Facebook team for not thinking more about how the News Feed algorithm could change our culture, influence elections and empower nationalist leaders," he continues. "And I'm worried that Mark has surrounded himself with a team that reinforces his beliefs instead of challenging them."
Hughes remarks are the latest in a string of others speaking out as countries work to put better control data privacy issues, election meddling and the spread of misinformation.
Facebook recently permanently banned far-right and other extremist figures including Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and Milo Yiannopoulos. The company said their accounts violated the company’s policies against dangerous individuals and organizations.
The company he helped create, Hughes writes, is now a "powerful monopoly".
Hughes and Zuckerberg were college roommates at Harvard. He left Facebook in 2007.