Facebook CEO calls for an update of Internet regulations

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Saturday called on regulators to play "a more active role" in setting rules that govern the Internet, the world's largest social media network struggling to defuse The critics.

Zuckerberg, whose company is under pressure for not properly controlling content and protecting users' privacy on its platform, wrote in a Washington Post article that a "standardized approach" to content removal would help Internet companies to remain "responsible".

"By updating the rules for the Internet, we can preserve the best – freedom for people to express themselves and entrepreneurs to build new things – while protecting society from wider damage. Zuckerberg wrote.

His comments follow an article in The Washington Post that the US government and Facebook are negotiating a multi-billion dollar fine to compensate for the company's lack of privacy.

Zuckerberg also called for an update of the legislation focused on the protection of elections, including new rules on online political advertising that "reflect the reality of threats" faced by social media companies.

US intelligence and law enforcement officials said that Russian trolls on the Internet had contributed to the dissemination of controversial content and misinformation on Facebook in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential elections.