Elizabeth Warren escalated on Tuesday her call for big tech companies to be broken up after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he would be willing to 'go to the mat' and 'fight' the federal government should she become president.

After Zuckerberg told his employees in an internal meeting in July that it would 'suck' for Facebook to become embroiled in a legal battle with the federal government, Warren responded by claiming it would 'suck' more if tech companies were allowed to continue their supposedly 'corrupt' practices.

'What would really 'suck' is if we don't fix a corrupt system that lets giant companies like Facebook engage in illegal anticompetitive practices, stomp on consumer privacy rights, and repeatedly fumble their responsibility to protect our democracy,' Warren wrote in a tweet aimed at Facebook's founder.

'I'm not afraid to hold Big Tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon accountable. It's time to #BreakUpBigTech,' she wrote in another tweet, linking back to her campaign website.

An audio recording of one of Zuckerberg's all-hands meetings with Facebook employees in July was leaked and published Tuesday, revealing that he felt the 2020 political candidate's proposal for dealing with tech giants was misinformed.

Zuckerberg also touched on several other topics after being questioned by staff, including that Facebook has had 'private engagement' with regulators, out of the spotlight, about launching its digital currency Libra.

He also told staff that some of the media reports detailing the stress and trauma some of the company's 30,000 content moderators faced at work were 'overdramatic'. And when employees asked how to respond to friends who were critical of the company, they were to tell them that it 'cares about problems'.

The candid meeting also saw Zuckerberg joke to staff that he would have been fired years ago if he didn't have shares with special voting rights, giving him total control of the company.

Zuckerberg also detailed plans to pursue 'brain computer interface' as VR and AR becomes more popular in the next five to 10 years, but he said it will be non-evasive and the company 'won't perform brain surgery'.

Democratic 2020 contender and Senator Elizabeth Warren accused tech giants of participating in 'illegal anticompetitive practices' after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he would 'fight' her on trying to break up big tech

After audio of a closed-door meeting with employees was leaked, Zuckerberg invited people to read a transcript where he discussed Warren's proposal to break up tech companies she claims are 'monopolies,' including Facebook, Google and Amazon

Leaked audio reveals what Zuckerberg told Facebook staff - Zuckerberg told staff that he would be willing to 'go to the mat' and 'fight' Elizabeth Warren should she become president and attempt to break up big tech companies. He added that it would not solve issues like election interference, but amplify them - The company has had 'private engagement' with regulators about launching its digital currency Libra, out of the media spotlight. Facebook hopes to have 100 private partners by the time it launches sometime in 2020 - Some of the reports detailing the stress and trauma around 30,000 contracted comment moderators faced were 'overdramatic'. Zuckerberg added that most people are 'not looking at terrible things all day long', and there is a 'distribution of experiences' - Zuckerberg - who is both CEO and chairman - joked to staff that he would have been fired years ago if he didn't own nearly 60 percent of Facebook stock that gives him special voting rights on the board, effectively giving him total control of the company - Employees who asked how to respond to friends who were critical of Facebook were told to tell them the company 'cares about problems' - Facebook will pursue 'brain computer inferface', but it will be non-invasive and the company 'won't perform brain surgery' Advertisement

At the meeting, Zuckerberg said that there 'might be a political movement where people are angry at the tech companies or are worried about concentration' when answering a question from one employee, according to a transcript published by The Verge on Tuesday.

'That doesn't mean that, even if there's anger and that you have someone like Elizabeth Warren who thinks that the right answer is to break up the companies.'

'I mean, if she gets elected president, then I would bet that we will have a legal challenge, and I would bet that we will win the legal challenge. And does that still suck for us? Yeah. I mean, I don't want to have a major lawsuit against our own government,' he continued. '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.'

Zuckerberg confirmed on his official Facebook page the validity of the leaked audio and even linking back to the transcript so people could listen and read his comments that are usually reserved for employees.

'Every week I do a Q&A at Facebook where employees get to ask me anything and I share openly what I'm thinking on all kinds of projects and issues,' he wrote.

'The transcript from one of my Q&As a few months ago just got published online,' Zuckerberg continued, 'and even though it was meant to be internal rather than public, now that it's out there, you can check it out if you're interested in seeing an unfiltered version of what I'm thinking and telling employees on a bunch of topics like social responsibility, breaking up tech companies, Libra, neural computing interfaces, and doing the right thing over the long term.'

Zuckerberg told employees in an internal meeting in July that he would be willing to 'go to the mat' and 'fight' Warren and the federal government should she become president

The 2020 contender and Senator responded by claiming it would 'suck' more if government allowed tech companies to become monopolies. She also said these companies have a 'responsibility to protect our democracy'

Senator Warren, who most recently polls in either first or second place among Democratic voters, has a whole section of her campaign website dedicated to outlining her plan to 'break up big tech' like Facebook, Google and Amazon – companies she claims hold monopolies.

'Today's big tech companies have too much power — too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy,' Warren charges in her proposal. 'They've bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else.'

'That's why my administration will make big, structural changes to the tech sector to promote more competition — including breaking up Amazon, Facebook, and Google.'

Although Warren believes breaking up these companies will root out corruption, such as election meddling, Zuckerberg insists it would only exacerbate the issue since smaller companies are unable to allocate the same sort of investments towards safety and security.

'It's just that breaking up these companies, whether it's Facebook or Google or Amazon, is not actually going to solve the issues,' Zuckerberg said in one of the meetings.

'And, you know, it doesn't make election interference less likely,' he continued. 'It makes it more likely because now the companies can't coordinate and work together. It doesn't make any of the hate speech or issues like that less likely. It makes it more likely because now... all the processes that we're putting in place and investing in, now we're more fragmented.'

Warren, who is either the first or second most popular candidate in most polls, says breaking up these companies will help stop the spread of hate speech and stifle those trying to meddle in political elections

During Zuckerberg's Washington trip last month, he met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and also had a meeting with Donald Trump where the two discussed social media bias, among other topics

Facebook employs 39,651 people and as of June 2019 the social media platform has 2.41 billion monthly active users. When combining daily users to Facebook and subsidiaries Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, the company has more than 2.1 billion combined visitors every day.

Google is by far the most popular search engine and most visited website in the world – receiving on average 63,000 searches per second, which translates into at least 3.8 million searches per minute, 228 million searches per hour, and 5.6 billion searches per day and a whopping 2 trillion searches per year. And the website's email platform, Gmail, has more than 1 billion monthly active users.

Amazon has more than 100 million Prime members, which costs $119 per year. The online marketplace usually has between 2-3 billion visitors per month.

Zuckerberg, whose net worth is $67.3 billion, has been making efforts to work with Washington to restore faith in big tech – especially since it was revealed Facebook was utilized by foreign entities attempting to influence the 2016 elections.

In April 2018, Zuckerberg testified in a congressional hearing regarding the use of Facebook data to target voters in the last presidential elections, and since then has met with members of Congress and the president.

Zuckerberg joined Donald Trump for a meeting in the Oval Office in September, and a White House official said the topic of 'bias came up.' Earlier that same day, he was seen on Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers.

'Mark is in Washington, D.C., meeting with policymakers to hear their concerns and talk about future internet regulation. He also had a good, constructive meeting with President Trump at the White House today,' a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement regarding the trip.

Zuckerberg had a closed-door dinner with senators as part of his Washington visit aimed at lobbying lawmakers on privacy and regulation issues important to Facebook.

Facebook has held 'private meetings' with regulators to launch its digital currency Libra

Facebook in June announced plans to launch a digital currency called Libra, which was met with criticism from regulators.

Notably, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in July that 'the project can go forward' without addressing concerns about 'privacy, money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability'.

In the leaked audio during the staff Q&A session, Zuckerberg said that 'private engagement' with regulators, out of the media spotlight, would be key to securing approval.

'Part of the process is going to be public, like the hearings that [Facebook VP of messaging products David Marcus] did over the last couple of days,' he said.

'The public things, I think, tend to be a little more dramatic. But a bigger part of it is private engagement with regulators around the world, and those, I think, often are more substantive and less dramatic,' he continued.

The CEO also said that Facebook hoped to have 100 private partners by the time Libra launches, after securing 27 partners for the initial announcement.

Facebook has said that the first version of the project is supposed to launch sometime next year.

Zuckerberg says reports that comment moderators were traumatized by their work were 'overdramatic'

Facebook employs some 30,000 content moderators worldwide, most of them outside contractors, who are tasked with reviewing and removing content that is violent, extremist, or otherwise banned.

In recent months, several reports have emerged detailing the stress and trauma that contractors endure watching violent videos for much of the day.

'Some of the reports, I think, are a little overdramatic,' Zuckerberg said. 'From digging into them and understanding what's going on, it's not that most people are just looking at just terrible things all day long.'

'Within a population of 30,000 people, there's going to be a distribution of experiences that people have,' he continued.

'We want to do everything we can to make sure that even the people who are having the worst experiences, that we're making sure that we support them as well as possible.'

Zuckerberg joked he would have been fired years ago if he didn't have control of the company

Zuckerberg is the company's chairman and CEO, and controls nearly 60 percent of the shareholder voting power at Facebook as he owns stock in a class that gives him special voting rights. This puts him firmly in control of the board and making it effectively impossible to fire him.

In May, outside shareholders revolted, with 68 percent voting to oust Zuckerberg as chairman and 83 percent voting to implement a 'one share, one vote' system — measures that failed due to Zuckerberg's veto.

In the leaked audio of the Q&A session with staff, Zuckerberg revealed that he would have been fired long ago without control of the board.

'In 2006, when Yahoo wanted to buy our company, I probably would've been fired, and we would have sold the company. We wouldn't even be here if I didn't have control,' he said.

'Going back to 2006 when we were just a college service, and we were about to roll out open registration so everyone can sign up, and we were about to launch News Feed, which didn't exist yet. And like Yahoo came in with this big offer for a billion dollars, which is, like, was going to, like, fulfill everyone's financial dreams for the company,' he said.

'And I was like, 'I don't really think we should do this.' And everyone was like 'What?' And at the time, we had 10 million people using Facebook, and Myspace had 100 million people, and it was growing faster.'

'So I turn it down, and our board was super upset. Our whole management team basically quit,' he continued.

Employees should tell friends who criticize Facebook that the company 'cares about the problems'

'I think humanizing stuff is always really important,' Zuckerberg said when asked what employees should say to friends to trash-talk Facebook.

'I think it's tough to break down these perceptions and build trust until you get to a place where people know that you have their best interests at heart. So that's one thing that you all will be well-suited to do as ambassadors, if you choose to be, having spent time here, as I think you know the heart of this place at this point,' he said.

He continued: 'I just find that sitting down and talking to people and having them know that you care about the problems and acknowledge that there are issues and that you're working through them ... I think it just makes a big difference.'

Facebook is pursuing neural interfaces 'but not brain surgery'

'Brain-computer interface is an exciting idea,' Zuckerberg said in the leaked transcript.

The CEO pointed out that the field is separated into two approaches: invasive and noninvasive.

'Invasive being things that require surgery or implants, but have the advantage that it's actually in your brain, so you can get more signal. Non-invasive is like, you wear a band or, for glasses, you shine an optical light and get a sense of blood flow in certain areas of the brain. You get less signal from noninvasive,' he said.

'We're more focused on — I think completely focused on non-invasive,' he continued, drawing laughter from the room.

'We're trying to make AR and VR a big thing in the next five years to 10 years ... I don't know, you think Libra is hard to launch. 'Facebook wants to perform brain surgery,' I don't want to see the congressional hearings on that one.'