Allegedly, Facebook is still in the habit of lying to people. At yesterday’s Senate hearing, while being grilled by members of Congress, Libra head and blockchain manager for the social media conglomerate David Marcus assured his listeners that the Libra cryptocurrency would be governed by what he referred to as “Swiss authorities.” Immediately, regulators in Switzerland issued a statement saying that this had not been discussed prior to the hearing, and that this was “news to them.”
What Tricks Does Libra Have Up Its Sleeve?
It looks bad when your alleged watch party turns against you and claims your words aren’t true, but that’s exactly what’s happening, and Facebook just can’t seem to garner a positive addition to its already sullied and broken reputation.
During the hearing, Marcus exclaimed:
For the purposes of data and privacy protections, the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commission (FDPIC) will be the Libra Association’s privacy regulator.
Following Marcus’ words, the organization issued a statement explaining it had no idea what Marcus was talking about, as neither Marcus nor any executive involved with Facebook or Libra ever got in touch to discuss the partnership.
The statement was prepared by Hugo Wyler, the FDPIC head of communication. It reads:
Until today, we have not been contacted by the promoters of Libra. We expect Facebook or its promoters to provide us with concrete information when the time comes. Only then will we be able to examine the extent to which our legal advisory and supervisory competence is given. In any case, we are following the development of the project in the public debate.
Libra strokes the fires of bipartisan anger. The idea of a Facebook-produced cryptocurrency isn’t admirable to most members of the U.S. Congress, and that includes both Democrats and Republicans. For the most part, the political atmosphere in the nation has been largely divided, but both sides seem to agree on one thing: that Facebook cannot be trusted, and its entry into the financial and/ or banking sector is sketchy, to say the least.
The fight against Libra was largely stirred by Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat of California. As head of the House Financial Services Committee, Waters had asked Facebook to hold off on its crypto plans indefinitely until Congress had the necessary time to get all its questions answered regarding how Facebook would manage people’s private financial data.
From there, Marcus got in touch with Waters to assure her that Libra would be developed ethically, but Waters and her team remained largely unconvinced.
Trying to Clear Things Up
Following Marcus’ statements, a Calibra representative issued a follow-up statement explaining:
We’ve yet to meet with the FDPIC but look forward to meeting with them soon as part of our ongoing conversations with regulators and policymakers.