Just when you think Libra may finally get some blessings of regulators to hit the market, the U.S. House turns up the heat. This time, lawmakers demand that Facebook’s top executive, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, will testify by the beginning of 2020.
Ever since announcing the proposed launch of Facebook’s global virtual currency, Libra, the upcoming virtual coin has gone through a lot of scrutiny. Financial regulators – both in the United States and abroad – are of the belief that Facebook’s cryptocurrency wields a massive power, which if left uncontrolled could wreak a lot more damage than the good it is proposed to do.
Time and time again, regulators on the matter keep refining the requirements to ensure the crypto coin is, in fact, safe for use. To show the magnitude of the matter, a special committee was set up, exclusively to scrutinize the virtual currency and see if it completely meets the requirement.
The government-Libra drama has been on for months and just when we thought we have heard enough, yet another ‘witness’ is being called to the stand.
This time the U.S. House is requesting the presence of Facebook Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sheryl Sandberg on October 29th. According to a person familiar with the matter, the purpose of the invite is to have Facebook COO testify about the forthcoming crypto asset. You will recall this is not the first time an in-house team of Facebook is being called to testify. The first was David Marcus, who is currently the head and co-creator of Facebook global coin, Libra.
Marcus appeared before the House and even Senate panel earlier in July. Well, I guess that was not enough. COO Sandberg is expected to stand before the House later on in the month to testify about the tech giant’s plan to launch the digital currency.
This time, there was also a clause attached, requesting the presence of Facebook boss, Mark Zuckerberg – on or before January 2020. The House committee stated this as the condition to receive COO Sandberg later in the month. In other words, Facebook boss will have to be called to the ‘stand’ to testify too – just like Marcus and probably Sandberg.
Even more, report has it that the proposed ‘questioning’ scheduled for 29th of this month may not be tailored exclusively to crypto. An in-house member who begged to be kept anonymous disclosed that COO Sandberg may be questioned about Facebook’s advertising practices.
I guess this is coming up due to the allegations leveled against the company in March. Although Facebook already cleared the air with some civil rights groups, I believe the House committee would like to hear it from the COO.
Will the invite hold? Will Facebook boss agree to this new clause? What happens next? Share your thoughts with us.
