Facebook’s messaging merger leaves lawmakers questioning the company’s power

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is planning to integrate the underlying infrastructure of Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, allowing users to message each other between apps, but some lawmakers, regulators, and security experts are already beginning to question whether the benefits outweigh the consequences. “Good for encryption but bad for competition and privacy,” tweeted Seante Communciations Subcommittee Ranking Member Brian Schatz (D-HI). Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said, “Facebook and Google’s dominance over data has already harmed consumers and the economy. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice must take Big Tech’s invasive, anticompetitive practices seriously and begin to vigorously enforce our laws.” “When it comes to privacy, we can no longer give Facebook the benefit of the doubt,” said Sen Ed Markey (D-MA). “Now that Facebook plans to integrate its messaging services, we need more than mere assurances from the company that this move will not come at the expense of users’ data privacy and security. We cannot allow platform integration to become privacy disintegration.”