When Mark Zuckerberg, the company's chief executive, testifies before Congress this week, lawmakers will no doubt ask how Facebook might restore the public's trust and whether it might accept some measure of regulation.

Yet in the big picture, these are the wrong questions to be asking.

The right question: What comes after Facebook? Yes, we have come to depend on social networks, but instead of accepting an inherently flawed Facebook monopoly, what we most need now is a new generation of social media platforms that are fundamentally different in their incentives and dedication to protecting user data. Barring a total overhaul of leadership and business model, Facebook will never be that platform.