Rep. Waters Opens Libra Hearing With Indictment of Facebook's Past Mistakes

Today, lawmakers on the United States House of Representatives Financial Services Committee are meeting to discuss the possible effects of Facebook’s proposed Libra cryptocurrency project on the financial system. 

As a Cointelegraph respondent reports on July 17, committee chair Rep. Maxine Waters has opened the hearing with an indictment of Facebook’s past behavior. In her statement, Waters said that there was a “demonstrated pattern of failing to keep consumer data private on a scale similar to Equifax.”

Waters also stated that Facebook, “allowed malicious Russian state actors to purchase and target ads,” which purportedly influenced the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.

Waters also emphasized that the committee will be discussing the “Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act.” A draft of the bill recently surfaced, the goal of which would prevent large tech companies like Facebook from creating their own digital assets. The draft reads:

“A large platform utility may not establish, maintain, or operate a digital asset that is intended to be widely used as medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value, or any other similar function, as defined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.” 

Today’s hearing in the House of Representatives follows one in the Senate, wherein lawmakers grilled Facebook’s David Marcus regarding Libra. Amid questions of safety, compliance and consumer protection, Marcus stressed that the Libra project would seek proper approval and registrations with the relevant authorities, including the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.