Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has joined the growing number of people criticizing the largest social media company in the world, Facebook.
Marc Benioff Slams Facebook
On Wednesday, Oct. 16, the Silicon Valley mogul responded to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg who announced that he has been writing a speech on free expression. In a tweet, Benioff compared the social media site to cigarettes.
"Facebook is a publisher. They need to be held accountable for propaganda on their platform. We must have standards [and] practices decided by law," he said. "FB is the new cigarettes — it's addictive, bad for us, [and] our kids are being drawn in."
He also called for Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which gives automatic liability protection to social media companies for the content created by its users, to be abolished.
Marc Benioff Joins Calls To Break Up Facebook
In an interview with CNN, Benioff doubled down his criticism of Facebook, reiterating that the social media company is "addictive" and mentioning that the site is running paid political ads that contain misinformation. He also added his name to the list of politicians, technologists, and activists who want to see Facebook separated from Instagram and WhatsApp.
"[T]hey're also acquiring other companies and co-mingling [data those companies have on their users] into theirs," he stated. "And I think at that point, because they're now doing that, that they probably should be broken up. Because they're having an undue influence as the largest social media platform on the planet."
Facebook has explained that breaking up Big Tech, including Google and Apple, will only make it more challenging to address issues such as election interference. In a leaked audio recording from a meeting with employees this summer, Zuckerberg promised to fight anyone who is threatening to divide the company.
This is not the first time that Benioff has spoken against Facebook. Last year, he suggested that the company should be regulated like the cigarette industry.
During his interview with CNN, Benioff shared that his earlier criticism of Facebook led to a telephone conversation with COO Sheryl Sandberg. He did not disclose what they talked about.
