Gary Cohn says Facebook more irresponsible than banks were in 2008

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President Donald Trump's former chief economic adviser Gary Cohn had some critical words for social media companies in an interview published Monday, comparing them — unfavorably — to banks ten years ago.

Asked about Facebook FB, +3.49%   , which last week removed dozens of fake accounts that the company said were spreading misinformation ahead of November’s midterm elections, Cohn as quoted by Bloomberg at a charity event said Facebook and its rivals have engaged in worse behavior than banks back in 2008, during the financial crisis.

‘I think banks were more responsible citizens in ’08 than some of the social media companies are today.’

Facebook has been under pressure from regulators over the platform’s use by Russians to spread misinformation before and after the 2016 presidential election.

In addition to Facebook, Twitter TWTR, +2.27%   has also been under scrutiny from regulators over the use of its platform by Russians during the 2016 election. Representatives of those companies, plus Alphabet Inc.’s Google GOOGL, -0.01% GOOG, +0.03%  have been invited to appear before the Senate in September for another hearing on foreign activity in their networks.

Banks are often blamed for the financial crisis due to promoting mortgages based on flimsy assets as well as investing in risky securities that lost value. Cohn in 2008 was president and chief operating officer at Goldman Sachs GS, +0.85%  , which has paid billions of dollars to resolve allegations of fraudulent activity during the crisis.

Also in the interview, Cohn predicted a tax idea being contemplated by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — to let Americans account for inflation in determining their capital gains tax liabilities — will go nowhere.

“It was an idea he came up with that got killed in 30 seconds or less, and it won’t last 30 seconds again,” Cohn said.