Facebook investors state Mark Zuckerberg holds excessive power

Facebook’s long list of scandals has actually raised issues, consisting of from investors, that CEO Mark Zuckerberg wields excessive power over the business.

The social media network was utilized to spread out phony news throughout elections, fuel hate speech in Myanmar and livestream killings. Facebook is likewise anticipating to deal with a record $5 billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission for its supposed failures to safeguard user personal privacy.

On Thursday at the business’s yearly investors conference, 8 investor propositions, consisting of some that tried to control Zuckerberg’s power, stopped working to pass. The outcomes weren’t unexpected due to the fact that Zuckerberg has the bulk ballot power over the business. That’s due to the fact that Zuckerberg, who’s likewise chairman of Facebook’s board of directors, owns a class of stock called Class B that has 10 votes per share.

One of the investor propositions would’ve needed Facebook to choose an independent board chair. Another would’ve removed Facebook’s Class B shares.

Calls to cut Zuckerberg’s control over the business aren’t brand-new, however they have actually intensified as Facebook continues to be pestered by more issues, consisting of problems around information personal privacy and security. Even among Facebook’s co-founders, Chris Hughes, has actually required regulators to separate Facebook.

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Outside of the meeting at Hotel Nia in Menlo Park, California, a small group of protesters from advocacy groups SumOfUs and Bend the Arc held up a giant inflatable angry emoji along with signs that read “Break up Facebook” and “Vote no on Zuckerberg.” Conservatives from another group, called Take California Back, came with a megaphone and alleged that the social network, which banned several far-right figures earlier this month, was censoring free speech.

A plane flew overhead displaying a sign that read, “Break up Facebook! Save Silicon Valley!” On Wednesday, nonprofit Fight for the Future projected a giant sign that read “Fire Mark Zuckerberg” on the side of Hotel Nia, according to a Medium post from the group.

“We believe that Facebook is out of control,” Arielle Cohen, a national organizer for Bend the Arc, said during the meeting on Thursday. “It is too large and too complex to be managed effectively.”

The group put forward a proposal asking Facebook to look at “strategic alternatives,” including splitting Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus VR off from the company and eliminating Class B shares.

Zuckerberg signaled during the meeting that he didn’t have plans to relinquish his control of the company but would continue pushing for more government regulation. 

“I think the big question that we need to answer is, What is the right framework?” he said.

Facebook stockholders rejected proposals on other topics, including one that asked Facebook to prepare a report on workforce diversity that includes information about what the company is doing to support employees “who do not share all or part of Silicon Valley’s dominant political ideology.”

Shareholders elected eight members to Facebook’s board of directors, including PayPal executive Peggy Alford, who’ll be the first African-American woman to join the board. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who’s served on Facebook’s board since 2011, wasn’t nominated for re-election. Erskine Bowles, the president emeritus of the University of North Carolina, is also leaving the board.