Facebook's Libra Cryptocurrency: Bad for Privacy, Bad for Competition

Allowing Facebook to mint its own coin, the Libra, would turn it into the greatest anti-competitive trust case in history.

Even before it unveiled its vision for a global cryptocurrency this month, Facebook was already a near-monopoly in social media, and part of a duopoly in its main markets.

Compare the stock performance of Snap and Facebook, and you will probably place your bet on Facebook.

Neither Facebook nor Google charges for their consumer products, obscuring the fact that all-encompassing consumer tracking is their real product.

Now, with the Libra project, Facebook wants to exponentially increase its monopolistic power by accessing unparalleled information about our consumer purchasing habits.

Of course, Facebook will speak piously about privacy controls and its concern for the consumer, yet it will still figure out a way to sell the data or others who buy the data will figure it out for them.

With the richness of the social media data Facebook consistently garners, even anonymized data can be recalibrated to distill specific individual-related information and preferences.

Consumers can have the benefit of a digital payment mechanism without allowing Facebook to gain more power.

Further, the information monopoly Facebook would possess will be similar to what the Chinese government possesses but needs the Great Firewall to execute.

Even once stripped down, Facebook should remain separated from commerce due to privacy concerns.