“If I’m upset with Facebook, what’s the equivalent product that I can go sign up for?”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testifying before two Senate committees on Tuesday over the Cambridge Analytica scandal and revelations about the platform’s role in the dissemination of Russian disinformation during the 2016 presidential campaign.
In a sharp line of questioning, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked Zuckerberg if Facebook has a monopoly on the kind of service it provides for its more than 2 billion users.
“If I buy a Ford and it doesn’t work well and I don’t like it, I can buy a Chevy,” Graham said during Tuesday’s hearing. “If I’m upset with Facebook, what’s the equivalent product that I can go sign up for?”
Zuckerberg stumbled, noting that other tech companies overlap with what Facebook does. But he didn’t say there are other companies that make the same product, so to speak.
It’s a worthwhile issue for Graham to bring up. As Vox has covered elsewhere, many tech companies including Facebook provide services no one else does, in part because they’re so big that they can buy the competition. A customer would be hard-pressed to find another website that provides the ability to connect with others like Facebook does.
(Thought experiment: If you switched back to MySpace, would that help you stay in touch with your friends and family?)
That’s why the Graham-Zuckerberg exchange is so important. It gets to the heart of the power that companies like Facebook have — and whether Congress has a role in regulating the size and scope of these companies.
Here’s video as well as a transcript of the entire exchange:
Lindsey Graham
Who is your biggest competitor?
Mark Zuckerberg
Senator, we have a lot of competitors.
Lindsey Graham
Who’s your biggest?
Mark Zuckerberg
I think the categories — did you want just one? I’m not sure I can give one. But can I give a bunch?
Lindsey Graham
Mmhmm.
Mark Zuckerberg
There are three categories that I would focus on. One are the other tech platforms, so Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft; we overlap with them in different ways.
Lindsey Graham
Do they provide the same service you provide?
Mark Zuckerberg
In different ways, different parts of it, yes.
Lindsey Graham
Let me put it this way: If I buy a Ford and it doesn’t work well and I don’t like it, I can buy a Chevy. If I’m upset with Facebook, what’s the equivalent product that I can go sign up for?
Mark Zuckerberg
Well, the second category that I was going to talk about —
Lindsey Graham
I’m not talking about categories. What I’m talking is the real competition you face.
Because car companies face a lot of competition. If they make a defective car, it gets out in the world, people stop being that car and buy another one.
Is there an alternative to Facebook in the private sector?
Mark Zuckerberg
Yes, Senator. The average American uses eight different apps to communicate with their friends and stay in touch with people.
Lindsey Graham
Okay.
Mark Zuckerberg
Ranging from text apps to email —
Lindsey Graham
Which is the same service you provide?
Mark Zuckerberg
Well, we provide a number of different services.
Lindsey Graham
Is Twitter the same as what you do?
Mark Zuckerberg
It overlaps with a portion of what we do.
Lindsey Graham
You don’t think you have a monopoly?
Mark Zuckerberg
It certainly doesn’t feel like that to me.
Lindsey Graham
So it doesn’t. So you bought Instagram? Why did you buy Instagram?
Mark Zuckerberg
Because they were very talented app developers who are making good use of our platform and understood our values.
Lindsey Graham
It was a good business decision.
My point is that one way to regulate is through competition, through government regulation. Here’s the question that all of us got to answer: What do we tell our constituents, given what’s happened here, why we should let you self-regulate?
What would you tell people in South Carolina, that given all the things we’ve just discovered here, it’s a good idea for us to rely upon you to regulate your own business practices?
Mark Zuckerberg
Well, Senator, my position is not that there should be no regulation.
Lindsey Graham
Okay.
Mark Zuckerberg
I think the internet is increasing —
Lindsey Graham
Do you embrace regulation?
Mark Zuckerberg
I think the real question, as the internet becomes more important in people’s lives, is what’s the right regulation? Not whether there should be or not.
Lindsey Graham
But you as a company welcome regulation?
Mark Zuckerberg
I think if it’s a right regulation, then yes.
Lindsey Graham
Do you think the Europeans have it right?
Mark Zuckerberg
I think that they get things right.
Lindsey Graham
That’s true.
So would you work with us in terms of what regulations you think are necessary in your industry?
Mark Zuckerberg
Absolutely.
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