Leaked Audio: Mark Zuckerberg Promises Facebook Will ‘Go to the Mat and Fight’ Regulation

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is applauded as he delivers the opening keynote introducing n
AMY OSBORNE/Getty
Lucas Nolan

In leaked internal audio, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg states that if presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren attempts to break up Facebook, the firm would “go to the mat and fight.” Zuckerberg adds that a legal fight with the government would “suck for us.”

In recently leaked audio from The Verge, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg can be heard discussing a number of topics including how the Masters of the Universe will fight regulation or being broken up. Zuckerberg, when asked a question about what he would do if Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren became president and attempted to break up the company, answered that Facebook would “go to the mat and fight” the U.S. government in a court of law.

The comments come from two separate Q&A sessions Zuckerberg had with Facebook employees in July. Zuckerberg is quoted as saying: “You have someone like Elizabeth Warren that thinks that the right answer is to break up the companies … I mean, if she gets elected president then I would bet that we will have a legal challenge, and I would bet that we will win the legal challenge.”

Zuckerberg adds: “And does that still suck for us? Yeah. I mean, I don’t want to have a major lawsuit against our own government. I mean, that’s not the position that you want to be in when you’re, you know, I mean … It’s like, we care about our country, and want to work with our government and do good things. 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 fight.”

Zuckerberg further stated in the recordings that Facebook’s size has helped it to fight election interference while rivals such as Twitter have failed in their efforts at times due to their lack of resources. “It’s why Twitter can’t do as good of a job as we can,” Zuckerberg said. “I mean, they face, qualitatively, the same types of issues. But they can’t put in the investment. Our investment on safety is bigger than the whole revenue of their company.”

Elizabeth Warren responded to Zuckerberg’s comments via Twitter, stating that a system that allows “giant companies like Facebook engage in illegal anticompetitive practices” must be fixed.

Discussing his refusal to appear before government bodies worried about privacy issues, Zuckerberg stated: “I’m not going to go to every single hearing around the world. A lot of different people want to do that. When the issues came up last year around Cambridge Analytica, I did hearings in the US. I did hearings in the EU. It just doesn’t really make sense for me to go to hearings in every single country that wants to have me show up.”

In July, Facebook was fined $5 billion by the FTC over privacy violations and the firms handling of the Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal. Many were not happy with the settlement with Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) stating that a $5 billion fine would be a “bargain” for the $600 billion company. The senators wrote to the FTC:

Even a fine in the billions is simply a write-down for the company, and large penalties have done little to deter large tech firms. If the FTC is seen as traffic police handing out speeding tickets companies profiting off breaking the law, then Facebook and other will continue to push the boundaries.

Zuckerberg posted a statement in response to the leak:

Breitbart News will continue to follow this story.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.