Hisham Sarwar
A Decade back, Facebook was a simple social network connecting friends and families. A tool to get in touch with your old mates whom you have lost contact after finishing high school. You could see their pictures, videos, like them, interact, comment on them and they could do the same and that’s pretty much about it.
The subscription base grew exponentially high and all of a sudden, billions of people began to use the platform. It has the number of users higher than the number of cars on the roads and planes in the sky. Enough said, then came the era of elections and a pivotal role was played (no pun intended).
It penetrated the classified marketplace, jobs marketplace, enabled small businesses to sell online on their Facebook page, it had this amazing 10-year photo challenge and God knows what else and what not but one begins to think about Facebook’s sudden foray into the digital financial market?
Why?, Where did that come from, on a social network that was ‘only’ meant to connect people?
What is the motive behind the world’s largest social media networking tool growing so fast?. This is one simple question every sane mind is beginning to ask now. The introduction of Libra has all of a sudden injected life in other digital cryptocurrencies and no one knows if this ever was the part of the initial plan?
The motive behind the introduction of digital currency was to become a leader, not to have the competition but wait, what if this is far beyond the game of being the market leader only?
In future, you may not have a bank account or may not even need one. If Libra kicks off well, a digital account may well suffice.
This is alarming, this is an eye opener, a future survival without banks? courtesy digital currency?. The guy who introduced the barter system would be pulling his hair about how advanced the humans have gone in a hundred odd years.
Libra would let you send/receive money, pay for the services you use, pay your bills, rent, fees, gas and literally everything you are doing with your bank and credit card today.
It also means financial supremacy for Facebook, controlling you, your activities and your life.
China has long disconnected herself from major U.S digital players such as Google and Facebook. The only way Facebook can compete with the Chinese market is to gain a digital financial advantage and therefore the importance of ‘Libra’ cannot be ignored. It gives Facebook a hand to take on Tencent or Alibaba in international markets.
The other angle one needs to watch out for is, Washington won’t mind an aggressive Facebook taking on the Chinese market. The idea is to push China away from building momentum, the first stone was thrown with Huawei episode and Libra could well serve the purpose in the long run. This will also ignite the tech cold war with China, however, the results may not be according to the plans.
In an attempt to become a one-stop resource, a tool for whatever you do in a minute, has anybody wondered if Facebook is following the footprints of the movie Jurassic Park?
What if Dinosaurs evolve?.
They will outgrow in numbers and could compete, eat, destroy humans with different species, they could take the world?
As I write this article, with a smirk on my face I just recalled dialogue from the movie, watch the video.
Are we enabling Facebook more than what it needs to be? Why should we be controlled? Why only Facebook for everything and why not a moderate way of living life as we were without Facebook just over a decade ago?
Facebook will make trillion dollars in the near future, for us, the trillion dollar question is, Are We Safe Online?
