INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesMark Zuckerberg has said he would "go to the mat" to fight against Facebook's break-up, in leaked audio
published by tech news site The Verge.US presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has said she would consider splitting up it and other tech
giants.Facebook's founder also talked candidly about competing with rivals Twitter and TikTok, and the difficulties facing its
crypto-currency Libra.Mark Zuckerberg later confirmed on Facebook that the audio was genuine.According to a transcript of the recording, Mr
Zuckerberg admitted to being concerned about an attempt to break up the firm."I don't want to have a major lawsuit against our own
government But look, at the end of the day, if someone's going to try to threaten something that existential, you go to the mat and you
fight," he said in the recording."It doesn't make election interference less likely
It makes it more likely because now the companies can't co-ordinate and work together," he added.Mr Zuckerberg also discussed the reason why
he declined to attend some political hearings around the world in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal
He repeatedly refused to attend meetings with politicians in the UK, sending other Facebook representatives in his place."I did hearings in
I did hearings in the EU," he said
"It just doesn't really make sense for me to go to hearings in every single country that wants to have me show up and, frankly, doesn't have
jurisdiction to demand that."With regard to Twitter, Mr Zuckerberg joked that Facebook's investment on safety was "bigger than the whole
revenue of their company".And on TikTok, he discussed Facebook's rival product Lasso, a video-sharing platform which he said was "trying
to get product-market fit in countries like Mexico countries where TikTok is not already big".Facebook's crypto-currency Libra is being
tested in India, Mr Zuckerberg added."The hope is to get that rolled out in a lot of places with existing currencies before the end of this
year," he said.He also said the public part of the process had been "more dramatic" than private meetings with regulators.And he
acknowledged that getting Libra off the ground was going to be "a long road"
There's no bombshell revelation in this leak but we get some good insights into Mark Zuckerberg's major preoccupations - regulation and
new competitors.In public, Facebook's founder has been very measured about regulation, even saying he'd welcome it - in these
conversations with his team he's far more combative, prepared to "go to the mat" with Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren
if she tries to break up his company
And is he ever going to submit to demands to give evidence to UK parliamentarians? Not a chance
As far as competition goes, he's obviously wary about the rapid rise of TikTok - unlike with Instagram and WhatsApp, he's not able to
simply buy the Chinese-owned business so he's working on a replica service
Only the Paranoid Survive was the title of Intel founder Andy Grove's memoir - and Mark Zuckerberg seems to have adopted it as his mantra
now that move fast and break things has gone right out of fashion
