Big tech. Most Americans believe it to be a problem, but for many different reasons. Conservatives tend to argue that companies like Facebook infringe upon the First Amendment by censoring certain views whereas liberals veer more towards worries about privacy issues and anti-trust principles. The truth is probably somewhere in between, with many overblown fears about Facebook. Throughout the 2020 election, despite a rumored flirt with a presidential run, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has remained silent. Until now. The Verge obtained leaked audio from a recent internal meeting. The Harvard dropout turned billionaire promised to fight Warren in court if she won the presidency and tried to break up his company, like she has promised to do. Furthermore, according to this audio, he remains confident Facebook would beat the United States federal government.
The audio can be heard here. Here is a partial transcript of what Zuckerberg had to say about Sen. Warren's potential plans:
"You have someone like Elizabeth Warren who thinks that the right answer is to break up the companies ... if she gets elected president, then I would bet that we will have a legal challenge, and I would bet that we will win the legal challenge. And does that still suck for us? Yeah. I mean, I don’t want to have a major lawsuit against our own government. ... But look, at the end of the day, if someone’s going to try to threaten something that existential, you go to the mat and you fight."
Zuckerberg also say that by breaking up the company, it would make it less likely that Big Tech and those who actually run the websites could create solutions.
"It's just that breaking up these companies, whether it's Facebook or Google or Amazon, is not actually going to solve the issues. And, you know, it doesn't make election interference less likely. It makes it more likely because now the companies can't coordinate and work together."
Townhall readers will note that Republicans too have raised concerns with social media companies for multiple reasons. In addition to the First Amendment issues, GOP Senator Josh Hawley has warned that Facebook and other websites feature certain addictive qualities which should be banned.
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One could argue, based off Zuckerberg's comments, that Warren will use his remarks as fodder for her base. "Big tech and corporations are afraid of me because they know I will fight them on behalf of the American people," I can hear her saying now in campaign commercials right after Zuckerberg's words. We'll keep you posted if and when she responds.
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