Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he "absolutely" supports the U.S. government's efforts in presenting stricter regulations on big tech firms but he argued that the call to break up his company will not really resolve the underlying problems.
In an interview with CBS This Morning on Tuesday, Zuckerberg explained that while there are some apparent issues with the operations of social media platforms, he pointed out that breaking up the network have resulted in many people getting "upset," The Wrap reported.
"I mean, breaking up Facebook isn't going to address the question of political discourse," he said. His comments came after multiple politicians and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen questioned the platform's stance on political ads.
The tech mogul argued that he still believes people on the platform should have the right to decide whether what they see in political ads is true or not. On the other hand, the call of politicians against Facebook's ads policies are far beyond the real issue on competition.
Industry analysts and experts alike have been calling on stronger regulatory action against the potential anti-competition issues that revolve around the social media giant's acquisition of both WhatsApp and Instagram.
For many industry experts, the buyouts are apparent moves that could keep competitors from having a chunk at the world's reliance on social media. Anti-competition talks in big tech have led to more calls for breaking up companies dominating a certain segment in technology.
For John Lopatka, antitrust professor at Penn State, before Facebook or other big tech companies are broken up, there has to be solid proof that the company monopolized the industry and displayed "anti-competitive conduct - issues that Zuckerberg has denied repeatedly.
Meanwhile, the company has been stepping up efforts in fighting against ads discrimination, with vice president of Ads Product Marketing, Graham Mudd, noting that the efforts are a "milestone" in this particular cause.
According to Tech Crunch, the platform announced on Tuesday that ads in the country will no longer involve targeted strategies that are based on multicultural affinity, gender, age, or ZIP code.
Another big move on the platform's ads unit is anyone can now check on the archive of how businesses are using Facebook for housing advertisements. Anyone, including regulators, journalists, and civil rights organizations can now check the said archive that starts the process of ads archiving on Wednesday.
The new rules may come as a surprise for advertisers but Mudd explained that the company will continue to help them adjust to the changes. The restrictions are expected to appease some of the debates going on around Facebook's ads policies.
