Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg should quit the social media giant because of its anti-democratic nature that is a danger to the world, a prominent critic of online activity says. 

One of the early pioneers of virtual reality, Jaron Lanier, 58, has repeatedly warned of the destructive nature of digital society.

"I think it would be good for the world if [Zuckerberg] stepped aside," Lanier told UpFront host Mehdi Hasan. "But the point is that there's no mechanism for him to do so.

"That [Facebook] is a one man shop is really, really not okay," Lanier added. "It's not okay for the world. It's not even in the spirit of capitalism. I think it's really anti-market, anti-democratic".

Larner - author of Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now - has heavily criticised what he calls the sophisticated manipulation of people by social media companies to boost profits.

A recent New York Times report on Facebook alleges the company knew about Russian meddling during the election cycle, failed to penalise Donald Trump's Islamophobic content, and tried to undermine critics with allegations of anti-Semitism, among other things.

Facebook disputes some of these claims and says it has addressed some of the concerns.

"I'm not entirely surprised by the report, although some of the details are surprising and shocking," said Lanier.

"From Zuckerberg's point of view, he is always in what he perceives as a life or death struggle. Either Facebook controls the world, or it dies."

It said most of the fake accounts it found were financially motivated, rather than aimed at misinformation.

The company has nearly 2.3 billion users.