Democrat representative David Cicilline, who is expected to take over the next chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, criticized Facebook Inc. on Wednesday saying that the social media giant can't certainly be trusted to regulate itself and that this task should be carried out by the Congress.
In his Twitter account, the lawmaker from Rhode Island throws shade at the blue and white company by citing a report from the New York Times regarding Facebook's attempt to deal with the current antitrust fiasco. The congressman pointed out that the executives of the tech firm have only one goal in their minds and that is to create massive profits. These selfish interests in the part of Facebook consequently set aside the welfare of its customers, a report from The Hill said.
Cicilline's verbal tirade on Twitter went on to indicate Facebook's decision to wilfully forego the issue on the spread of hate speech as well as the proliferation of Russian propaganda on its platform.
The Democrat representative, who also sits on the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, went on to accuse the social media site of hiding the truth from the public and diverting its attention away from the issue by utilizing a playbook of suppressing opposition as well as propagating conspiracy theories.
Cicilline said that it's long overdue for the Congress to take action on the matters. As such, the elected US official said that Facebook execs have actually attempted to buy, what he calls, the Congress's silence, thus preventing its members from taking the necessary measures to correct the problem.
Facebook has yet to offer their response in light of Cicilline's sharp criticism.
Meanwhile, the report from Reuters said that Facebook co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, along with the company's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, were given early warnings about the possible exploitation of the platform, given its immense influence, which could be used to disrupt national legal proceedings like elections, as well as proliferating message of hate around the globe.
Zuckerberg has once reiterated that Facebook would make sure to put the concerns of the public before its goals of making profits. In fact, the California-based tech firm has intensified its efforts to sort out the safety and security issues of the platform by doubling down on its staff whose focus is to address the said matters.
Other initiatives taken by Facebook were to increase the transparency on page administration and purchasing of ad campaigns.
Critics were still a skeptic on these changes made by Facebook. They believe that it is only by the implementation of the law will the company be straightened out.
