Facebook to face House and Senate inquiries over Libra

Facebook is no stranger to being called by the House of Congress and the Senate, with this happening several times in the past due to the social network’s controversial activities. This time, Mark Zuckerberg’s company will be facing scrutiny over its Libra crypto venture. Lawmakers from all sides are basically alarmed at the prospect of the biggest social media company in the world having its own cryptocurrency.

House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) recently announced that there will be a hearing about Libra scheduled on July 17, The Hill reports. One of the people that are expected to appear and testify before representatives is Project Libra co-creator and lead David Marcus. Facebook has provided no official statement on the matter, as of writing.

As to what is causing such concern among lawmakers with regards to Libra that would warrant a hearing, among the biggest reasons, is Facebook’s past indiscretions. The social network has not exactly been the most trustworthy entity when it comes to private data. Its assurances that Libra will be given to a non-profit to manage has not made anyone feel relieved.

Aside from the House, the Senate Banking Committee is also scheduled to take a crack at Facebook for Libra, Coindesk reports. Many of the same topics are expected to be brought up and the same witnesses are likely to be called. On that note, aside from Marcus, there have been no other names brought up in either official or speculative fashion.

With the way things are now, Libra is expected to have a rough rollout, if it ever is even allowed to do so. There is simply too much mistrust in Facebook from practically every single government in the world. From the U.S. to Europe, Libra is considered by regulators to be a source of alarm. It will also not be legalized in Russia, Chairman State Duma Committee on Financial Market Anatoly Aksakov said recently.