After the Facebook scandal that rocked markets and headlines, the U.S. government held a hearing with Mark Zuckerberg. It was evident that they simply don’t know how to Facebook or social media. Yet, it is apparent that they are at least considering instituting a series of rules and regulations to rein in social media.
Despite the crackdown on conservative content by Facebook, Google, and Twitter, and the obvious leftist bias in Silicon Valley, regulating social media is a bad idea. It should be resisted by the right, no matter how much disdain they hold for the tech juggernauts.
Kevin O’Leary, a celebrated investor and former political candidate, thinks the federal government clamping down on social media platforms will do more harm than good, especially to small businesses trying to find customers.
“All of these businesses that are sitting at $5 million to $10 million in sales can’t live or acquire customers without social media platforms. If you can’t acquire customers on social media and you’re selling garments or leg warmers, you’re screwed,” O’Leary told CNBC.
“My warning to the regulators is don’t kill the ‘golden goose’ of the efficiency this provides to small business and job creation.”
O’Leary doesn’t want the U.S. to end up like Europe, where there is such staunch regulation of social media.
In the end, “Mr. Wonderful” thinks the market will eventually solve a lot of the controversial issues pertaining to data and security.
“I’m such a believer that the market will take care of the issues around security and data,” said O’Leary. “I’ve also come to the conclusion … no one gives a ‘bleep’ about this issue in the new economy.”
It is inevitable, though. And it appears that many of the big names in social media seem ready for regulation. Why? Because regulation tends to help them and hurt any potential new rivals from entering the market.
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