A group of progressive organizations is set on Monday to begin a series of digital ads to press the Federal Trade Commission to break up Facebook, Axios reported on Sunday.
The left-wing groups are requesting that the FTC take three main actions: Break apart Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger into their own firms separate from Facebook; enable users on competing social networks to communicate with each another; and implement strong privacy rules, according to the group's website.
As part of the six-figure advertising campaign, the group will promote messages such as "Facebook keeps violating your privacy. Break it up," and "Mark Zuckerberg has a scary amount of power. We need to take it back."
The organizations involved in the ad campaign include the anti-concentration Open Markets Institute, as well as progressive groups such as Demand Progress and MoveOn Civic Action.
The pressure from the progressive groups comes as Chairman Joe Simons began his tenure at the FTC this month. The Washington Post reported that Simons told Congress that Silicon Valley could face scrutiny for potential antitrust violations under his tenure, which could challenge the growing influence of the nation's dominant tech platforms.
Facebook has also faced criticism from the other side of the aisle, as conservative congressmen held a hearing last month in which they accused the social network and its competitors of silencing right-wing opinions, according to Axios.
Facebook, feeling the pressure from both the Right and Left, said that it brought in impartial observers to investigate these allegations, and that regulators reviewing Facebook's acquisitions concluded they didn't harm competition.
"The average person uses eight different apps to communicate and stay connected," of which Facebook operates only a few, a company spokesman told Axios.
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