Mark Zuckerberg's defense of Libra: It's all about China

Mark Zuckerberg is once again raising the threat posed by China as he looks to defend his company to lawmakers. 

The Facebook CEO will appear before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday to answer questions about the company’s plans for Libra, its cryptocurrency project that has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers and banking officials around the world.

In prepared remarks released ahead of his testimony, Zuckerberg said he knows there’s a lot of distrust of Facebook.

“I believe this is something that needs to get built, but I understand we’re not the ideal messenger right now,” he said. “We’ve faced a lot of issues over the past few years, and I’m sure people wish it was anyone but Facebook putting this idea forward.”

He then quickly pivots to what has become one of his preferred talking points when faced with questions about regulation: China.

“But I also hope we can talk about the risks of not innovating,” Zuckerberg writes. “While we debate these issues, the rest of the world isn’t waiting. China is moving quickly to launch similar ideas in the coming months. Libra will be backed mostly by dollars and I believe it will extend America’s financial leadership as well as our democratic values and oversight around the world. If America doesn’t innovate, our financial leadership is not guaranteed.”

In other words: if Facebook doesn’t do this, then China will. 

If that sounds like a familiar warning, that’s because it’s one Zuckerberg has made several times before. He has raised China in previous Congressional appearances, and just last week the CEO criticized TikTok for censorship and said China “is now exporting their vision of the internet to other countries.” 

Zuckerberg is hoping to defend Libra, which has already gotten off to a rocky start. Lawmakers from both parties in the House and the Senate panned the idea, saying they don’t trust Facebook. And earlier this month, Facebook lost support from some of its highest-profile outside backers, including PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe.

“If America doesn’t lead on this, others will,” Zuckerberg writes. “Foreign companies or countries may act without the same regulatory oversight or commitment to transparency that we have. We’re already seeing how companies with very different values are restricting people based on their beliefs. There’s no guarantee that services which support democracy and fundamental rights around expression will win out.”