From Wall Street Journal
Break Up Facebook? It’s Complicated, Tech Experts Say
By Jeff Horwitz and Deepa Seetharaman
Breaking up Facebook Inc. would be difficult and expensive, but not impossible, according to current and former employees along with tech-industry experts.
In separate antitrust lawsuits filed on Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission and a group of 46 state attorneys general said they would try to make Facebook divest itself of apps Instagram and WhatsApp if the company’s conduct is found to be illegal...
“Could you do it today? No,” said Ashkan Soltani, a former technologist for the FTC. Yet, he added, “software is built to be modular and easily movable. I don’t think it’ll be as dire as people make it out to be.”
Ashkan Soltani is a MIMS alumnus (2009), and an independent researcher and technologist specializing in privacy, security, and behavioral economics.
