Facebook has repeatedly been confronted by calls, including from one of its own co-founders, to split Instagram and WhatsApp off from the social network. But it seems the chances of that happening keep getting slimmer.
US Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said Thursday in a tweet that he met with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and asked the tech mogul to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. Not surprisingly, Zuckerberg shot down the idea.
Hawley, one of Facebooks toughest critics, is among the several US lawmakers from both parties whove been rubbing shoulders with Zuckerberg this week.
Its Zuckerbergs first known visit to Washington, DC, since April 2018 when he testified before lawmakers in the wake of a major privacy scandal. Cambridge Analytica, a UK political consultancy, harvested the data of up to 87 million Facebook users without their permission. In June, Hawley introduced a bill that would make tech companies like Facebook liable for political bias.
Facebook has repeatedly said it doesn't plan to split Instagram and WhatsApp away from the worlds largest social network. The company has argued that doing so wouldn't hold it more accountable for its privacy mishaps and other woes. Instead, Zuckerberg has called for more internet regulation around harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability. The company is also working on a way to make it possible for Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram users to send messages to one another without switching apps.
Facebook didn't immediately have a comment about Hawleys meeting with Zuckerberg.
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