The Chain of Command: How Facebook’s Libra, Bank Regulators, and PayPal Built a New World Currency (unlimitedhangout.com)
Overview & Context 🧭
This October 22, 2024 investigative report by Whitney Webb examines the interconnected evolution of Facebook’s Libra (now Diem), PayPal, and global regulators into a powerful digital currency ecosystem—raising questions about financial sovereignty, surveillance capitalism, and techno-authoritarian governance.
🔗 Key Connections
- Facebook’s Libra/Diem initiative sparked alignment between Big Tech and global finance actors, prompting regulators and central banks to develop competing digital currencies and frameworks.
- PayPal’s strategic role—including data-sharing and regulatory lobbying—helped shape a compliant infrastructure that benefits private platforms under public oversight.
- The convergence of social media, payment platforms, and regulators is forming a digital money “deep state”, with implications for privacy, autonomy, and global economic power.
⚖️ Governance & Surveillance Risks
- The network embeds payment tracking and user-level data integration across platforms and governments, raising deep privacy and surveillance concerns.
- Critics argue this amounts to surveillance capitalism meets monetary control, where financial flows, identities, and transactions are under centralized digital governance.
- Possible authoritarian implications include monitoring dissent, enforcing financial compliance, and influencing cross-border financial access via digital ID-led systems.
🌐 Broader Significance
- The story illustrates how tech-finance consortia can bypass traditional democratic oversight, posing a risk to national and global financial sovereignty.
- Highlights the emerging pattern of private-public technocratic monetary systems, echoing concerns of a gov‑corp technate.
- Serves as a critical case study for policymakers, activists, and scholars monitoring cryptocurrency regulation, digital ID, and surveillance infrastructure.
📚 Citation
Webb, W. (2024, October 22). The Chain of Command: How Facebook’s Libra, Bank Regulators, and PayPal Built a New World Currency. Unlimited Hangout. Retrieved from https://unlimitedhangout.com/2024/10/investigative-series/the-chain-of-command-how-facebooks-libra-bank-regulators-and-paypal-built-a-new-world-currency/
Summary generated by ChatGPT (GPT‑4).