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Mark Zuckerberg threatens to sue US government if Elizabeth Warren becomes president in leaked audio

The audio recording is reportedly from Q&A sessions Mark Zuckerberg had with Facebook employees in July this year
UPDATED MAR 18, 2020
Mark Zuckerberg (Getty Images)
Mark Zuckerberg (Getty Images)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is in hot water after leaked audio obtained by The Verge has him saying his technology company would have no choice but to sue the US government if Elizabeth Warren becomes president after she proposed to break up the social media giant.

Spanning a wide range of comments and offering a deep insight into the young billionaire's thought process, the comments go much further than Zuckerberg's usually stoic disposition in public, Fox News reports.

According to Zuckerberg, the size of his company was instrumental in fighting election interference, while their rival Twitter, owing to its fewer resources, has not been able to combat the same adequately. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

"You have someone like Elizabeth Warren who 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 is reportedly heard saying in two Q&A sessions with Facebook employees in July this year.

"And does that still suck for us? Yeah. I mean, I don’t want to have a major lawsuit against our own government," he continued. "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."

According to Zuckerberg, the size of his company was instrumental in fighting election interference, while their rival Twitter, owing to its fewer resources, has not been able to combat the same adequately. 

“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 in safety is bigger than the whole revenue of their company.”

Zuckerberg met with President Trump and a number of lawmakers in D.C. last month. The meetings were described as "good" and "constructive" by a Facebook spokesperson, who said they were aimed at "meeting with policymakers to hear their concerns and talk about future Internet regulation." 

In response to the story, Warren tweeted that we need to fix the system that allows "giant companies like Facebook [to] engage in illegal anti-competitive practices."

The Democratic Senator from Massachusetts had put forth a plan in March this year aiming to break up the largest tech companies in the country, notably Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple.

"I want a government that makes sure everybody—even the biggest and most powerful companies in America—plays by the rules," Warren wrote in a blog post announcing her plan. "And I want to make sure that the next generation of great American tech companies can flourish. To do that, we need to stop this generation of big tech companies from throwing around their political power to shape the rules in their favor and throwing around their economic power to snuff out or buy up every potential competitor."

At the time, Warren specifically underscored in her plan that she wanted to unwind Facebook's acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp—an idea that is becoming increasingly popular on both sides of the political aisle.

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