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You can take a plane, you can take a train, you can even take your bike!’” He asked whether Facebook would cooperate with European antitrust authorities to determine whether the company was indeed a monopoly, and if it was, whether Facebook would accept splitting off WhatsApp or Messenger to remedy the problem. But it’s like somebody who has a monopoly in making cars is saying ‘Look, I have a monopoly in making cars, but it is no problem. “You have given the example of Twitter, you have given the example, I think, of Google as some of your competitors. “You cannot convince him, because it’s nonsense actually,” said Verhofstadt. The question was later picked up by Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt. “So I ask you simply, and that is my final question: can you convince me not to do so?”
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“I think it’s time to discuss breaking up Facebook’s monopoly, because it’s already too much power in only one hand,” said Weber. In a conference with Zuckerberg, German MEP Manfred Weber asked whether the Facebook CEO could name a single European alternative to his “empire,” which includes apps like WhatsApp and Instagram in addition to Facebook. European Parliament members asked Mark Zuckerberg today whether Facebook was a monopoly that potentially needed breaking up, echoing concerns voiced in the United States.
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