UK fearful that Libra will give Facebook the power to bully governments

The UK is growing fearful that the Libra project will give Facebook and the Libra Association the power to “exert tremendous influence over national governments”.

According to a report by the Financial News, an influential British parliamentary committee wants to “probe” Facebook’s controversial Libra cryptocurrency project amid fears that the social media giant’s move into the financial sector will grant it too much power.

“To me, [Libra] suggests Facebook’s almost trying to turn itself into its own country,” said Damian Collins, chair of the House of Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee.

“It’s a global organisation that doesn’t have physical boundaries but basically has a global community who are solely under the oversight of Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO).”

In particular, parliament is concerned about Facebook’s ability to safeguard the personal financial details of billions of users after a string of controversial privacy scandals.

UK MPs are not the only people to voice their concerns on the project, with many others taking a stand against it.

One such person is Michel Rauchs, lead cryptocurrency researcher at the University of Cambridge, who said: “It’s likely the Libra Association will become one of the world’s largest funds – and thus theoretically will be able to exert tremendous influence over national governments.”

The UK’s anxiety over the impending Libra cryptocurrency echoes sentiments voiced in the United States last week, with the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin labelling the project a “national security issue”.

Last week, David Marcus – co-creator of Libra – was forced to concede that Libra would not launch until it has received US regulatory approval following a series of four-hour hearings with US senators in which the project was grilled.

Interested in reading more Libra-related news? Read three warnings about Facebook’s Libra from finance experts here on Coin Rivet.