Rush Calls for the Firing of Mark Zuckerberg

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Representative Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) called on Facebook’s Board of Directors to immediately terminate Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and any other executives who have been involved in the unprecedented level of negligence resulting in the data privacy breaches, brazen lies before Congress, and collusion with a hostile foreign power:

“Enough is enough.  Every morning, we seem to find another story detailing Facebook’s negligence and outright disregard for its users.  Every story continues to further erode the trust between Facebook and the American people.  The ongoing and expanding level of privacy infractions at Facebook is beyond comparison.  This company and its executives have continued to deliberately take advantage of consumers and misuse their information.  Last April, when Mark Zuckerberg testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I heard him emphatically and repeatedly tell us that the only time Facebook shares information about its users is when they consent to it.  There is not a single Facebook user who knowingly consented to having their private messages read, edited, and even deleted.  Based on the reporting we have seen this week, it is now clear to me that Mr. Zuckerberg knowingly lied to Congress.

“The American people are tired of the excuses, the lies, and the deliberate evasion.  It is utterly appalling that we are only presented with the truth when it has been exposed.  Facebook is one of the world’s most innovative companies.  It is highly implausible its leadership repeatedly fail to understand their own policies of consent and the ways in which their product has been — and continues to be — manipulated and weaponized.

“Mark Zuckerberg sat in his Menlo Park office and watched a hostile foreign power interfere with our democracy, manipulate African-Americans with propaganda and lies, and, ultimately, suppress voter turnout.  He no longer deserves the privilege of leading one of America’s great success stories.  I am angered that his own greed and desire for tech dominance outweighed his responsibility to and the trust placed in him by his countless users.

“It is time for new leadership at Facebook and it is time for Mark Zuckerberg to log out.”

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