Elizabeth Warren slams Facebook in response to leaked Zuckerberg audio

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) fired back at Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday after the Facebook chief executive expressed anxiety that his company would face a legal challenge if she is elected president in 2020.

“What would really ‘suck’ is if we don’t fix a corrupt system that lets giant companies like Facebook engage in illegal anticompetitive practices, stomp on consumer privacy rights, and repeatedly fumble their responsibility to protect our democracy,” Warren tweeted, referencing Zuckerberg’s remark that a legal challenge would “suck for us” even if the social media giant prevailed.

What would really “suck” is if we don’t fix a corrupt system that lets giant companies like Facebook engage in illegal anticompetitive practices, stomp on consumer privacy rights, and repeatedly fumble their responsibility to protect our democracy. https://t.co/rI0v55KKAi

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 1, 2019

{mosads}“I’m not afraid to hold Big Tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon accountable. It’s time to #BreakUpBigTech,” Warren said in a follow-up tweet, linking to her presidential campaign’s proposal to break up major tech platforms.

I’m not afraid to hold Big Tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon accountable. It’s time to #BreakUpBigTech: https://t.co/o9X9v4noOm

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 1, 2019

In the leaked audio, first published by The Verge, Zuckerberg vowed to “fight” any efforts to break up the company.

“I don’t want to have a major lawsuit against our own government. … But look, at the end of the day, if someone’s going to try to threaten something that existential, you go to the mat and you fight,” Zuckerberg says in the recording.

In the same recording, Zuckerberg says talks with lawmakers to establish a federal privacy law have stalled.

“They’re going to demand more extreme measures, and, eventually, people just say, ‘Screw it, take a hammer to the whole thing,’ ” he said.