Lack of Transparency could Delay the Launch of Facebook’s Libra

During the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company will stick to its principles for advert placements.

He reiterated that the company will continue to stand for the principles it’s known for, irrespective of who is happy or sad about those principles. Some stakeholders have opined that such a “Principles First” approach could affect the launch of Facebook’s Libra.

On specific terms, Zuckerberg talked about free speech and strong encryption as the main focus of the new principles. These areas have received widespread debate from stakeholders who feel the company’s political ad rules are way out of line.

Facebook battling with a series of issues

Facebook has been involved in a lot of debate, trying to convince the public on the regulation of political ads. Most of the debate focused on the appropriateness of independently verifying news stories before permitting advertisers to advertise on them.

However, it seems Facebook has taken a new stance as it says it wouldn’t be monitoring or verifying news before ads can run on them. Instead, it wants to give the advertisers more freedom without any verification. This recent stance will definitely draw more criticism from a lot of stakeholders, but as Zukerberg has said, Facebook does not care about people’s opinions on the matter.

How the verification freedom could affect Libra

Political juggernauts and other stakeholders are frowning on Facebook’s stance to continue with its “principles first” approach. Those that favor this approach will surely be happy about Facebook’s decision. However, there could be strong political fallout as Facebook is planning to get its digital coin, Libra, underway. It may hamper the establishment of the digital currency, according to some experts.

Libra, being a centralized payment platform designed by Facebook, is still battling with legislative issues. That’s the reason why it has not taken off since it was announced in June last year.

Many lawmakers are asking that the coin should be completely denied a license, citing risks of terrorism and money laundering. The coin is billed to go live this year, but there is a strong indication that the launch date may not be feasible.

Zuckerberg seeking approval for Libra

Zuckerberg has been appealing to the Congressional decision-makers to approve the establishment of Libra. But this new principle away from news validation and transparency may become a dent towards the realization of the Libra goal. It could further sway the decision-makers, giving them more reasons why they shouldn’t approve the digital currency.

Libra has to be transparent to receive support

The major problem facing Libra could be from the making of Facebook, its developer. For any approval to take place, the coin has to be transparent. Otherwise, it would be difficult to gain support for its establishment from the government.

Even if a few decision-makers accept the coin, it needs a majority to approve before it could be issued the license. With facebook less than a convincing stance on transparency, it may be harder to get approval for Libra, according to stakeholders.