Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump is a terrifying combination.
NBC News revealed that Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump had a secret meeting in October1--and Zuckerberg refuses to say what they discussed.2
Zuckerberg was in Washington D.C. to defend his digital currency project Libra to Congress. Experts say Libra is a huge threat to democracy3 and could take over the entire global economy.4
There’s hope. Rep. Chuy Garcia has introduced an extremely important bill, H.R.4813--the Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance Act--that would stop Zuckerberg’s reckless Libra project.5 But not all of Congress is on board--and that’s why we need you to tell your representative that we need action now.
Tell your representative: Stop Mark Zuckerberg’s reckless corporate currency project Libra by supporting the Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance Act.
After months of meetings with right-wing leaders,6 Mark Zuckerberg privately met with Trump in September. After that meeting Zuckerberg changed Facebook policies to let Trump and other politicians spread misinformation by allowing them to run ads with lies.7
And now it’s been revealed that Zuckerberg met secretly with Trump again in October, along with Facebook board member Peter Thiel. Thiel is a Trump supporter whose company Palantir helps ICE cage children and conduct immigration raids.8
But the main purpose of Zuckerberg’s October D.C. trip was to defend Libra, his global currency project that would take control over money away from our democracy and concentrate it in the hands of a few private corporations.
Is Zuckerberg someone we want in charge of Libra, a project that has huge implications for the future of the global economy and democratic government?
Rep. Chuy Garcia says no. That’s why he introduced H.R. 4813, the Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act, which would block Facebook’s Libra Project. The bill would stop Facebook and other big tech monopolies from developing digital currencies.
But not all of Congress is on board with stopping Libra. That’s why we urgently need the voices of Demand Progress members like you to stop Mark Zuckerberg’s reckless empire-building before it has a chance to upend the global economy and damage democracy.
Tell your representative to stop Facebook’s reckless Libra project by supporting the Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act.
Demand Progress has been working for months to #BreakUpBigTech--by exposing the dangerous impacts of big tech monopolies like Facebook, and call for its monopoly power to be broken up.
The Libra project is just the latest example of why we desperately need to put a check on Facebook’s corporate power.
Demand Progress members like you have taken action many times to curb Facebook’s power. And the pressure is working.
Facebook is now under investigation by almost 50 Attorneys General.9 And already corporations like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal have fled Zuckerberg’s Libra project before it’s even been launched.10
But Zuckerberg still wants to launch Libra as soon as 2020. Libra will trample competitors, consumers and democracy itself. We can’t let Congress allow it to move forward.
Tell your representative to support the Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act.
Sources:
1. NBC News, "Trump hosted Zuckerberg for undisclosed dinner at the White House in October," November 20th, 2019.
2. Media Matters for America, "The hypocrisy of Mark Zuckerberg highlights a failure of the marketplace of ideas," December 3rd, 2019.
3. Fast Company, "Facebook’s currency could threaten democracy. Let’s not rush it," June 21st, 2019.
4. Project Syndicate, "Facebook’s Libra Must Be Stopped," June 20th, 2019.
5. Congress, "H.R.4813 - Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance Act," November 13th, 2019.
6. Politico, "Inside Mark Zuckerberg's private meetings with conservative pundits," October 14th, 2019.
7. CNBC, "Warren attacks Facebook for ‘quietly’ changing its political ad policy after Zuckerberg’s meeting with Trump," October 8th, 2019.
8. Mijente Report, "New Report Exposes Tech & Data Companies Behind ICE," October 23rd, 2018.
9. The Washington Post, "Forty-six attorneys general have joined a New York-led antitrust investigation of Facebook," October 22nd, 2019.
10. American Banker, "Don’t buy what Zuckerberg’s selling on Libra," October 22nd, 2019.