A group of shareholders of social media network Facebook are seeking to have founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg removed from the board of directors, which would strip him of the top post in the company. Members of consumer watchdog SumOfUs have submitted a proposal, which says that an independent chairperson would be able to “oversee the executives of the company, improve corporate governance and set a more accountable, pro-shareholder agenda” better, VentureBeat reported.

“The shares held by four individual SumOfUs members enabled us to file this proposal,” said Lisa Lindsley, the capital markets adviser for SumOfUs. She told VentureBeat that 3.33 lakh people had signed the petition requesting Facebook improve its corporate citizenship.

To highlight the imbalance of power at Facebook, the proposal mentions the new capital structure Facebook approved at a shareholders’ meeting in June last year. Investors had voted to approve a proposal that allowed Zuckerberg to remain in control.

In the proposal, SumOfUs members said that an independent board chairperson “who can provide a balance of power between the CEO and the board” would be able to boost shareholder value. “Independent board leadership is sorely needed at Facebook following its decision in 2016 to approve a new capital structure,” the proposal reads.

It has called for the appointment of a “particularly constructive” individual at a time when Facebook has been facing criticism for its role in the spread of fake news during the United States presidential elections, among other reasons. These include “censorship, hate speech and alleged inconsistencies in the application of Facebook’s community standards guidelines...targeting of ad views based on race; collaboration with law enforcement...and calls for public accountability regarding the human rights impacts of Facebook’s practices”.