--- title: Mark Zuckerberg Calls Obama Over NSA Spying description: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg writes in an open letter, published on Thursday, that he called President Obama to "express my frustration" at the threat he believes mass government surveillance poses to the future of the Internet canonical: https://time.com/23925/mark-zuckerberg-i-called-obama-over-state-spying/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-13T19:56:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:43.598Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mark Zuckerberg Calls Obama Over NSA Spying og:description: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg writes in an open letter, published on Thursday, that he called President Obama to "express my frustration" at the threat he believes mass government surveillance poses to the future of the Internet og:url: https://time.com/23925/mark-zuckerberg-i-called-obama-over-state-spying/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf684669cd6a65d69/69868415cd684874e109372a/180970439.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Interviewed Prior To Meeting With Lawmakers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mark Zuckerberg Calls Obama Over NSA Spying twitter:description: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg writes in an open letter, published on Thursday, that he called President Obama to "express my frustration" at the threat he believes mass government surveillance poses to the future of the Internet twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf684669cd6a65d69/69868415cd684874e109372a/180970439.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mark Zuckerberg: I Called Obama Over NSA Spying > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Mar 13, 2014 7:56 PM UTC  Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive officer of Facebook Inc., listens to an audience member's question during an interview at the Newseum in Washington, Sept. 18, 2013. Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive officer of Facebook Inc., listens to an audience member's question during an interview at the Newseum in Washington, Sept. 18, 2013. Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Mar 13, 2014 7:56 PM UTC Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg [wrote in a post](https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10101301165605491?notif%5Ft=notify%5Fme) to the social network Thursday that he called President Obama in exasperation at the threat he believes mass surveillance poses to the future of the Internet. “I’ve called President Obama to express my frustration over the damage the government is creating for all of our future. Unfortunately, it seems like it will take a very long time for true full reform,” Zuckerberg writes. In a statement, the White House confirmed the conversation took place. In his open letter, Zuckerberg, laments the damage he believes state surveillance — and the National Security Agency’s systematic work to crack encrypted privacy protections — does to the future of the Internet. “The Internet is our shared space. It helps us connect. It spreads opportunity,” he writes. “This is why I’ve been so confused and frustrated by the repeated reports of the behavior of the U.S. government. When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we’re protecting you against criminals, not our own government.” Zuckerberg has been vocal in the past about his [displeasure](http://techland.time.com/2013/12/09/tech-titans-band-together-in-effort-to-limit-government-surveillance/) with the NSA’s mass surveillance programs. In closing his note, he seems to implicitly endorse the work of nongovernmental groups developing technological tools that circumvent state surveillance. “So it’s up to us — all of us — to build the Internet we want. Together, we can build a space that is greater and a more important part of the world than anything we have today, but is also safe and secure,” he writes. If Zuckerberg’s comments ring familiar it’s because [Edward Snowden](http://time.com/18207/edward-snowden-sxsw-south-by-southwest/), speaking at the South by Southwest Interactive technology festival this week, said something similar. “They’re setting fire to the future of the Internet,” Snowden said, “and the people that are in this room now — you guys are the firefighters.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/23925/mark-zuckerberg-i-called-obama-over-state-spying/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/23925/mark-zuckerberg-i-called-obama-over-state-spying/"},"headline":"Mark Zuckerberg: I Called Obama Over NSA Spying","datePublished":"2014-03-13T19:56:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:43.598Z","description":"Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg writes in an open letter, published on Thursday, that he called President Obama to \"express my frustration\" at the threat he believes mass government surveillance poses to the future of the Internet","url":"https://time.com/23925/mark-zuckerberg-i-called-obama-over-state-spying/","keywords":["Domestic Surveillance","Tech","NSA","facebook","Edward Snowden","Mark Zuckerberg"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf684669cd6a65d69/69868415cd684874e109372a/180970439.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf684669cd6a65d69/69868415cd684874e109372a/180970439.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Interviewed Prior To Meeting With Lawmakers","caption":"Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Interviewed Prior To Meeting With Lawmakers","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/domestic-surveillance/","name":"Domestic Surveillance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/23925/mark-zuckerberg-i-called-obama-over-state-spying/","name":"Mark Zuckerberg: I Called Obama Over NSA Spying"}}]}] ```