Congressional lawmakers grilled a Facebook executive Tuesday about the social media giant’s plans for a new worldwide cryptocurrency network, with some saying they didn’t trust the tech behemoth amid an ongoing fallout over its privacy practices. The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing about Facebook’s plans for Libra, a new digital financial system it announced in June, amid widespread concern the company was moving to launch the platform without time for regulators and lawmakers to properly vet it. The company stunned Washington last month when it said it hoped to launch Libra as early as 2020 with a coalition of financial and tech partners and to allow billions of Facebook users to send money to each other around the world with ease. During the hearing, a bipartisan group of lawmakers grilled Facebook Vice President David Marcus, who is in charge of the Libra project, saying they were worried about the social media company’s reputation when it came to user data.

Nothing from today’s hearing gave the American people any reason to trust @facebook more than they did yesterday.



We can’t let Facebook go forward with this plan to get its hands on hardworking Americans’ money. https://t.co/Fgb4ymCMkg — Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) July 16, 2019

“Facebook is dangerous,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the ranking member of the banking committee, said during the hearing. “The last thing we need is to concentrate even more power in huge corporations. Look at Facebook’s record. We would be crazy to give them a chance to experiment with people’s bank accounts and to use powerful tools they don’t understand, like monetary policy, to jeopardize hardworking Americans’ ability to provide for their families.” Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) was more blunt, saying simply: “I don’t trust you guys.”

The truth hurts 🤷🏻‍♀️ https://t.co/9JibQBVbWd — Martha McSally (@SenMcSallyAZ) July 16, 2019

“Instead of cleaning up your house, you are launching into a new business model,” the lawmaker said, pointing to what she called “repeated deceit” by Facebook. Marcus repeatedly moved to placate lawmakers, saying Libra wouldn’t be offered to the public until regulatory concerns were taken care of. He said Facebook was committed to “take the time to get this right.” “We’ve made mistakes in the past,” he said. “We have been working, and are working hard, to get better.”

Cambridge Analytica. Russian bots. Security breaches. Housing discrimination. There’s an underlying theme here. @Facebook does not think through the consequences of its actions. And with nearly 2.4 billion active users, when Facebook breaks something, it has serious consequences. — Senator Bob Menendez (@SenatorMenendez) July 16, 2019