House Democrats may ban Facebook from the finance industry
Congress has not yet implemented the bill, and as a consequence, its content is far from final. Still, as representatives from Facebook appear before the House Banking Committee on Wednesday, it was the topic of important concern. A draft copy of the bill circulated for debate was acquired by the Verge.
The bill’s text simply says ” A large platform utility, may not be affiliated with any person that is, a financial institution, ” with additional sections outlining the definitions of different terms. Most particularly,’ large platform utility ‘ is described as’ a technology company with an annual worldwide income of $25,000,000,000 or more… predominantly involved in providing the public with an online marketplace, an exchange, or a third-party connection platform.’
It would certainly apply to Facebook, however, and would bar any involvement with Libra as a financial institution affiliation. It continues to be seen how much assistance the bill will receive from lawmakers, but as Facebook ceo and Libra architect David Marcus prepares for House and Senate hearings this week, the bill increases the stakes considerably. Previously, many of the same lawmakers had told Facebook to stop the project’s growth.
The project has already earned substantial executive skepticism. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin voiced concern in a briefing this morning that the project might be more helpful than lawful consumers to criminals. ” The Treasury Department has expressed very serious concerns that Libra could be misused by money launderers and terrorist financiers, ” Mnuchin said. ” We will not allow digital asset service providers to operate in the shadows. “