A top Facebook executive was caught on tape warning that Big Tech companies such as his employer have accumulated too much power and need to be broken up before it is too late.
In a secret recording released by Project Veritas, Facebook’s Global Planning Lead Benny Thomas said Facebook and its platforms such as Instagram, Oculus, and WhatsApp are “doing a lot of damage in the world” and need to be broken up into “separate companies” quickly because it’s “too much power when they’re all one together.”
“The government needs to step in and break up Google and Facebook. I’ll make less money but it’s a better thing for the world,” he explained, noting that Facebook is currently embroiled in lawsuits that will “drag on for years and years” and result in nothing because politicians will “just keep fighting.”
‼️@Facebook exec BENNY THOMAS (on video secretly recorded by Project Veritas): "Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Oculus, WhatsApp—they all need to be separate companies. It's too much power…It needs to be broken up the way telecom companies were broken up." https://t.co/Ymr4IseNRz pic.twitter.com/w4DlGYrT6B
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) March 15, 2021
Thomas also said he believed his boss Mark Zuckerberg should be removed as CEO of Facebook because he holds too much power.
“No king in history has been the ruler of 2 billion people, but Mark Zuckerberg is,” Thomas said. “And he’s 36. That’s too much for a 36-year-old. … You should not have power over 2 billion people. I just think that’s wrong.”
This power, Thomas said, extends beyond Facebook to other Big Tech giants such as Google, creating companies that look less like companies and more like countries.
“Facebook and Google are no longer companies, they’re countries,” he said.
“It’s only going to enhance rapidly,” the undercover journalist replied.
“Unless they’re stopped. They must be stopped,” Thomas said.
In a different conversation, Thomas told a journalist that “we’re in deep sh-t” and “bad things” will happen if Silicon Valley giants “remained unchecked.”
Facebook is one of five Big Tech companies that have received backlash for using their power to manipulate public opinion and control narratives. Not only does the tech giant have a long track record of using partisan fact-checkers to censor and silence posts and people with whom it disagrees, but the company also faces multiple complaints and lawsuits surrounding its anticompetitive behavior.
