US politicians alarmed by Facebook’s cryptocurrency masterplan

The announcement of a new currency led by Facebook has caught the attention of US law-makers and not in a good way.

The Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, Maxine Waters, is alarmed by the prospect of a massive company with a patchy track record when it comes to data protection and censorship having control of a global currency. She published the following statement on the matter soon after the unveiling of Libra.

“Facebook has data on billions of people and has repeatedly shown a disregard for the protection and careful use of this data,” said Waters. “It has also exposed Americans to malicious and fake accounts from bad actors, including Russian intelligence and transnational traffickers. Facebook has also been fined large sums and remains under a FTC consent order for deceiving consumers and failing to keep consumer data private, and has also been sued by the government for violating fair housing laws on its advertising platform.

“With the announcement that it plans to create a cryptocurrency, Facebook is continuing its unchecked expansion and extending its reach into the lives of its users. The cryptocurrency market currently lacks a clear regulatory framework to provide strong protections for investors, consumers, and the economy. Regulators should see this as a wake-up call to get serious about the privacy and national security concerns, cybersecurity risks, and trading risks that are posed by cryptocurrencies.

“Given the company’s troubled past, I am requesting that Facebook agree to a moratorium on any movement forward on developing a cryptocurrency until Congress and regulators have the opportunity to examine these issues and take action. Facebook executives should also come before the Committee to provide testimony on these issues.”

Waters isn’t the only representative to express concern and at least one Senator has joined the party, as you can see in the tweet below. Regulators are going through a period of realising they were very slow to acknowledge the magnitude of social media and should be keen to show they’ll be less complacent about money than they were conversation and information. It seems likely that Facebook will have to jump through a lot more hoops to launch this product than it has had to previously.