Hughes - perhaps in a bid to stay relevant, perhaps with altruistic intentions - has wound up in the center of a debate about how the government should regulate the social media company after writing a May 9 op-ed in the New York Times calling Facebook a monopoly that "never should have been allowed to buy a Instagram and WhatsApp".
The Federal Trade Commission is already expected to fine the company as much as $5 billion as part of a settlement over letting Cambridge Analytica obtain data on millions of users without consent. During a recent interview with CNN, Hughes said that issues at Facebook are far deeper than any one individual scandal. He said that a lack of accountability from Mark Zuckerberg and a board that is unable to institute any checks and balances are both to blame.

He continued: "Mark's the CEO, there is a board but because he owns 60 percent of the voting shares he's not accountable really to that board. It works more like a board of advisers than anything else."