Javier Mascherano defended Barcelona team-mate Gerard Pique, insisting football is a business and players have a right to sell themselves.
Pique attracted attention this week after a Periscope broadcast showing fans around his computer games company Kerad Games was abruptly interrupted by a screaming teenage fan.
Barca have reportedly asked for the Spain international centre-back to tone down his social media presence, but Mascherano believes it does not do anybody any harm.
"We are all accustomed to social media platforms," he told TV3.
"People are interested in that stuff, you can see in 20 seconds what a player can do before they return to Barcelona.
"It doesn't do anyone any harm. We live in a world where football is a business that has to sell itself for the good and the bad.
"Now we will be talking about this for 20 days and nothing about football. What, do players live in bunkers?"
Mascherano, however, prefers his private life to remain that way: "I am an oddball in the dressing room, honestly.
"It's not that I don't like to show my private life, but it costs me to sell myself, I can't do it.
"I try to close off my private life for the people around me, so that they get hurt as little as possible."
