Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitious Libra Project has been in the headlines ever since it was launched in June 2019, however, not necessarily for the right reasons. The project has gained more criticism than support globally, right from the Americas to Europe. The US Congress, Senate, and even President Donald Trump have lashed out Facebook with heavy criticism, with Trump even warning the social media giant of grave consequences. Following the unveiling of the Libra stablecoin, there was unrest in the Libra camp as reports of initial backers leaving the project emerged. PayPal was confirmed to be the first in line, and soon after, five other members of the Libra Foundation left amid troubled times.
There hasn’t been a great start to 2020 also since Vodafone has decided to leave the Libra Foundation as well. Vodafone declared on Tuesday that it was no longer a part of the Libra’s governing council, and has decided to move away from the infamous project. Other major names to leave Libra are eBay, MasterCard, VISA, and Booking Holdings.
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Speaking to the media, Vodafone spokesperson said that the company would divert the resources reserved for Libra towards the in-house digital payments service M-Pesa. The spokespersons added,
“We have said from the outset that Vodafone’s desire is to make a genuine contribution to extending financial inclusion. We remain fully committed to that goal.”
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The credibility of Facebook got severely hit after the Cambridge Analytica fiasco, which exposed the company’s dubious data privacy policies. Despite Libra’s head stating that users don’t need to trust Facebook to trust Libra, the situation doesn’t seem to be improving anytime soon. The government has come down heavily on Facebook, and the Libra Foundation members don’t want to risk their businesses. Though there’s no specific reason given from other exiting members, VISA has confirmed that regulatory expectations were the reason it distanced itself from Libra.
