Advocacy Groups Call for the FTC To Break Up Facebook (bleepingcomputer.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Several advocacy groups have banded together for a campaign that calls upon the US Federal Trade Commission to intervene and break up Facebook into smaller companies -- and more specifically to split off the Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp services from the mother company. The campaign, named Freedom from Facebook, was set into motion today by eight groups -- Demand Progress, Citizens Against Monopoly, Content Creators Coalition, Jewish Voice for Peace, MoveOn, Mpower Change, Open Markets Institute, and SumOfUs, respectively. Through a dedicated website, the eight advocacy groups are urging users to file a petition with the FTC on the grounds that Facebook has become a monopoly. The campaign's motto is "It's time to make Facebook safe for democracy." "Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have amassed a scary amount of power," the campaign's website reads. "Facebook unilaterally decides the news that billions of people around the world see every day."

Comments

If they didn't break up big banks

[JoeyRox]

Then they're definitely not going to break up Facebook, provided of course Facebook throws enough money to politicians and K Street.

Re:If they didn't break up big banks

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually they could exactly because of the banks (and similar power structures), FB is a nice big scapegoat, one with "leftist" leanings, that they'd love to throw under the bus for some easy bread and circuses. Basically FB hits all the hot buttons for the so-called conservatives. Founded by a Harvard grad (east coast liberal elitist), run out of California (left coast elitists). They'll point at FB and screech "see what happens when you don't listen to real Americans!!!!"

Because exactly what they want to do is distract from the far more significant harm that banks, insurance/healthcare and so on are really doing to the citizens.

I mean the Equifax breaches were far far more serious in terms of harm to people and look, they brushed that under the carpet like it was no big deal.

Re:If they didn't break up big banks

[Anonymous Coward]

Facebook is a crown corporation created to allow the intelligence community a loophole around the US Constitution. The might as well be viewed as an intelligence agency themselves at this point. The difference being that they can do their commerce publicly while the CIA has to move drugs in secret.

This is inane

[forkfail]

Facebook may be quite evil, but it is by no means has a monopoly on social media. It may occupy a particular niche in the social media eco-system. But I am not sure that there can really be more than one in a given niche. For social media to work at all, the majority of people who are interested in social media have to be in the same place.

Put limits on data collection and retention, sure. But break them up? All that'll happen is that another player will fill the niche. And being aware of what had been done to FB, they'll manage to be more evil: they'll do the same thing, but hide it even better.

Re:This is inane

[LaughingRadish]

A company doesn't need to be a complete monopoly for the Sherman Antitrust Act to be invoked. It just needs to be powerful enough to force the rest of the market to go along with its demands. That's what Standard Oil did prior to 1911 and is what Facebook is doing now.

Google is scarier than Facebook

[sjbe]

"Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have amassed a scary amount of power,"

Google has more power and more information and frankly more opportunities for abuse. Facebook just isn't clever enough to be subtle about it.

Anyway this is nothing more than a stupid publicity stunt that they have to know cannot possibly happen, especially with the current administration and congress. They didn't break up the banks which nobody even seriously argues with the fact that they are a systemic threat to our financial system. If they didn't do that then Facebook certainly isn't going to get that kind of scrutiny here in the US. Maybe Europe could do something but I doubt it.

Wrong

[quonset]

Facebook unilaterally decides the news that billions of people around the world see every day."

No, people choose to use FB as their news source rather than going to real news organizations. These people believe they don't have the time to read the source material and instead want to be spoon-fed dribs and drabs.

FB is offering the service. That people are too lazy to do their own footwork is not FB's problem.