The firm’s founder and chief executive said there is a need for government and regulators to have ‘a more active role’
FACEBOOK boss Mark Zuckerberg has sensationally admitted the site should be regulated.
The social networks billionaire founder and chief executive said there is a need for governments and watchdogs to have “a more active role”.
It follows the live-streaming on social media of the Christchurch terror attack in New Zealand, which was viewed 4,000 times before being removed.
Mr Zuckerberg, 34, said he believes new regulation is needed in four areas across the internet — harmful content, election integrity, privacy and “data portability”.
In a hard-hitting statement published by the Washington Post and on his own Facebook page, he said: “Every day we make decisions about what speech is harmful, what constitutes political advertising, and how to prevent sophisticated cyber attacks.
But if we were starting from scratch, we wouldn’t ask companies to make these judgments alone. I believe we need a more active role for governments and regulators.”
- Zuckerberg said new regulations are needed to protect society from harmful content, ensure election integrity, protect people’s privacy and to guarantee data portability.
- The Facebook CEO also endorsed a global framework to protect people’s privacy along the lines of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.
- Facebook has faced a torrent of public criticism over its handling of Russian intervention in the 2016 U.S. presidential election through social media and policies on hate speech that many governments and users consider too lax.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Saturday called for governments to play a greater role in regulating the Internet, citing four areas where he believes better rules are needed.
Zuckerberg said new regulations are needed to protect society from harmful content, ensure election integrity, protect people’s privacy and to guarantee data portability.
Facebook has faced a torrent of public criticism over its handling of Russian intervention in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and its policies on hate speech that many governments and users consider too lax. At the same time, conservative lawmakers in the U.S. have accused Facebook of political bias and censorship.
Zuckerberg proposed regulating harmful content by setting up independent bodies to set standards for what is considered terrorist propaganda and hate speech and is therefore prohibited.
“Internet companies should be accountable for enforcing standards on harmful content,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s impossible to remove all harmful content from the internet, but when people use dozens of different sharing services — all with their own policies and processes — we need a more standardized approach.”