Facebook has rejected calls from its co-founder to break up the “monopoly” he accused it of having over social media.
Chris Hughes, who roomed with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard, said the business should be forced to get rid of WhatsApp and Instagram and banned from further acquisitions for several years.
However, Facebook’s chief spokesman, former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, said "you don't enforce accountability by calling for the breakup of a successful American company”.
He said: “Accountability of tech companies can only be achieved through the painstaking introduction of new rules for the internet. That is exactly what Mark Zuckerberg has called for."
In an piece published in the New York Times, Mr Hughes called Mr Zuckerberg's power "unprecedented and un-American".
He said his co-founder's focus on growth "led him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks”.
Commenting on issues he sees with the company he said “I feel a sense of anger and responsibility” as he lamented the "slow response to Russian agents, violent rhetoric and fake news”.
Mr Hughes, who left Facebook in 2007 to campaign for Barack Obama, said he no longer has any ownership in Facebook or any other social media company.
His call echoes a proposal by Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, who also wants to splinter Amazon and Google into separate companies.
Facebook has recently been criticised for privacy and security lapses.
Other critics have also expressed their opinions it endangers democracy by failing to effectively combat the proliferation of misinformation.
