Facebook should be 'regulated like cigarette industry', says tech CEO

Salesforce chief Marc Benioff is latest tech insider to raise alarm over social media's effect on society with comments at Davos

Facebook should be regulated like a cigarette company, because of the addictive and harmful properties of social media, according to Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff.

Social networks would be regulated "exactly the same way that you regulated the cigarette industry", Benioff told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "Here's a product - cigarettes - they're addictive, they're not good for you, maybe there's all kinds of different forces trying to get you to do certain things. There's a lot of parallels.