Has Facebook become too powerful?

Facebook is the world’s biggest social media network by far.

It connects three billion people: nearly 40 percent of the global population.

Many use Instagram and WhatsApp as well, both owned by the US-based tech giant.

But for six hours on Monday, no one could communicate or share content on the company’s platforms.

Facebook apologised and blamed a technical glitch.

The outage is the company’s latest headache, after a former employee accused it of putting profits ahead of safety and privacy concerns.

So, has Facebook become too powerful? And are we too reliant on social media?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Estelle Masse – Europe legislative manager and global data protection Lead, AccessNow.

Alp Toker – Founder of Internet monitoring organisation, NetBlocks.

Catalina Goanta – Assistant professor in private law, Maastricht University.