Facebook competitor MeWe CEO: Social media isn't meant to be 'surveillance capitalism'

MeWe CEO Mark Weinstein on Wednesday had strong words for his competitors at Facebook, calling them a “surveillance company.”

“Social networks were never invented to be what we call now surveillance capitalism, which is what Facebook is. Their members are not customers to serve, they are data to sell and data to target,” he told FOX Business’ Deirdre Bolton on “The Claman Countdown.”

MeWe was launched in 2016, emphasizing its focus on protecting users’ data.

Weinstein described it as a "fully fledged social network with all the features people love and our 'Privacy Bill of Rights.' We don't sell your data. We don't target you. We don't mess up your newsfeeds. We have a freemium business model so everything you love is free," he said.

Weinstein said his social media company is producing strong revenue despite not using ads.

“We're doing great with revenue. We have 2,800 free emojis, but we've got great custom emojis, custom stickers,” he said. “So we're growing organically with no ads and we're not even marketing MeWe and we're growing by tens of thousands of people every day.”

MeWe CEO said breaking up Facebook won’t solve its problems.

“Breaking up Facebook doesn't solve the problem that they are a surveillance company transacting data by the way also transacting data from non-members,” he said.

Facebook announced that it will be imposing new rules for political ads in the U.S. prior to the 2020 election. The social media giant is attempting to crack down on election interference following the backlash it received after the 2016 election.

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“Facebook has had rules the whole time. They break their rules all the time. That's the problem. Rules at Facebook mean nothing,” Weinstein said.