Zuckerberg Dines With US Democrats Concerned Over Facebook’s Libra

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg had dinner with a handful of United States lawmakers, where he was met with intense scrutiny of Facebook’s proposed Libra stablecoin project.

Zuckerberg grilled by Democratic lawmakers

According to an article by the Washington Post on Sept. 19, Democratic Senator Mark R. Warner said Zuckerberg heard “consistent concerns about privacy, concerns around vile content and how it came to be dealt with.” 

The U.S. senator said specific questions were asked about Facebook’s plans to launch Libra, a cryptocurrency that has seen plenty of scrutiny in recent months from policymakers around the world. Warner added:

“One of the things I’m very worried about is, when the Facebook representative testified before the Senate, before my committee, he said, ‘You know, if we can’t get American regulatory approval, we won’t launch,’ [...] We hear lots of indication Facebook may choose to launch in other nations first. … So somebody is not telling the truth.”

Warner seemed convinced that Zuckerberg acknowledged the concerns from the US policymakers, but added:

“I still don’t have 100 percent clarity on whether they feel like they can launch short of U.S. regulatory approval.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who was also present during the dinner on Sept. 18, said that he welcomed “the strong, constructive interest shown by Mr. Zuckerberg,” adding:

“We talked about some of the most pressing challenges facing the tech industry, including its repeated failures to [protect] election security and consumer privacy. I focused on the challenges of privacy safeguards.”

Zuckerberg aims to win over policymakers

Cointelegraph reported earlier that Zuckerberg is in Washington for meetings with policymakers to discuss privacy, competition and Facebook's handling of political content. 

Facebook facing resistance from European lawmakers

This month, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that France will not authorize the development of Libra on European soil, while German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz warned that policymakers cannot accept parallel currencies.