George Soros says Mark Zuckerberg 'should not be left in control of Facebook'

• Billionaire financier George Soros is calling for Mark Zuckerberg to give up control of Facebook.
• Soros and Facebook are trapped in a bitter and long-running dispute over Facebook's impact on society.
• Soros argues that Zuckerberg and Trump's interests are aligned, and that there's an "informal mutual assistance operation" between them.
• In a column in The New York Times on Friday, Soros wrote that Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg "should not be left in control of Facebook."
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George Soros is gunning for Mark Zuckerberg again.

On Friday, the billionaire investor published a column in The New York Times calling for Zuckerberg to be forced to give up control of Facebook, inflaming the long-running and bitter dispute between the social network and the Hungarian-American philanthropist.

Facebook's policy decisions on political advertising are benefiting Donald Trump, and the interests of Trump and the 34-year-old billionaire CEO are "aligned," Soros argued: "I believe that Mr. Trump and Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, realize that their interests are aligned - the president's in winning elections, Mr. Zuckerberg's in making money."

Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg must relinquish control of Facebook, Soros said, suggesting they must be forced to if necessary: "I repeat and reaffirm my accusation against Facebook under the leadership of Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg. They follow only one guiding principle: maximize profits irrespective of the consequences. One way or another, they should not be left in control of Facebook."

Soros' column is an escalation of remarks he made at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier in January, when he said he believed there was "an informal mutual assistance operation or agreement developing between Trump and Facebook." (A Facebook spokesperson called the remarks "plain wrong" at the time.) It is the latest salvo in a years-long contentious clash between Soros and Facebook.

In January 2018, George Soros lambasted Facebook (and Google) as a "menace" to society with damaging effects on democracy.

Facebook responded by engaging opposition research firm Definers to smear Soros and anti-Facebook activists in attacks that were decried by critics as anti-Semitic (Soros is Jewish, and a frequent target of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories). After Facebook's actions were revealed by The New York Times in November 2018, Facebook dropped the firm, and Zuckerberg denied knowledge of it.

A Facebook spokesperson did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

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