To be sure, Facebook has its flaws. I've read documentations of them in lengthy detail, from a friend who is about as virulently anti-Facebook as one can be. I won't repeat them here, because not only are they private communications, they likely contain many unsourced claims. But putting that social network under the direct control of the federal government would be like getting the worst result from cross-breeding two deadly strains of bacteria. A super-threat, if you will. I figured it wouldn't take too long for somebody to refute all the claims Professor Howard makes. I've read three such refutations:
- Jim Harper, Cato Institute: "Were Facebook nationalized, its privacy problems would not evaporate. They would double."
- Ed Krayweski, Reason: "Once the government nationalizes something, it becomes, by definition, too big to fail."
- Jeff Bercovici, Forbes: "What would be the effect of demonstrating that the reward of building the most envied company in America — one that’s actually profitable and employs thousands of people and provides a platform for other businesses, large and small — is getting seized by the government? What effect would that have on the flow of capital?"
