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, the Democratic Senator Mark R. Warner said that during a Sept. 18 dinner with Democratic lawmakers, Zuckerberg heard “consistent concerns about privacy, concerns around vile content and how it came to be dealt with.”
The U.S. senator added that members asked specific questions about Facebook’s plans to launch Libra stablecoin, 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 heard the concerns from the US policymakers, however, he 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 last night’s dinner, 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 US Policymakers
Cointelegraph reported earlier that Zuckerberg is in Washington for meetings with policymakers to discuss internet regulatory matters such as privacy, competition and its handling of political content. These meetings come after months of intense scrutiny of Facebook’s planned Libra stablecoin project from United States lawmakers and regulators.
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, followed by the recent news that German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz stated that policymakers cannot accept parallel currencies such as Facebook’s proposed Libra stablecoin.
