Mark Zuckerberg believes that the Internet needs a "more active role" for regulators

In an editorial for The Washington Post and Independent.ieMark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, believes that there must be "a more active role of governments and regulators" to counter the broader threats to society, while taking into account freedom of expression. He describes four major areas in which, in his view, new regulations are needed: data portability, election integrity, harmful content, and privacy.

Zuckerberg uses the podium to articulate his arguments for each of the four areas, arguing that "Internet companies should be responsible for enforcing standards of harmful content," and that "a more standardized 'delete harmful content on a variety of services. He suggested that regulators could set standards to define what constitutes harmful content, as well as guidelines for removing it from online platforms.

For the elections, he described the measures taken by Facebook to improve the elections, such as new disclosure rules for political ads and searchable databases (although obstacles were encountered along the way) for these ads. , but he noted that there were a lot of gray areas. when it comes to determining what is an ad and what is not it (again, encounter problems). It stresses that existing laws that deal with political spending often focus on the candidates themselves, rather than on organizations defending specific issues, and stresses that laws need to be updated to take into account "the reality of and establish standards for the entire system. " industry."

As far as the regulation of privacy is concerned, Mr Zuckerberg is in favor of a set of regulations comparable to that of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDR), and states that "it would be good for the Internet for more countries to adopt regulations such as the GDPR". a common framework. He also said that these regulations should "protect your right to choose how to use your information" and should include ways to punish companies when mistakes are made. "

Finally, it notes that any such regulation should "guarantee the principle of data portability" and allow users to transfer their information from one service to the other, and that it should exist a common standard that can be used by companies.

Zuckerberg's op-ed comes after a few deadly years for the company and is a rare call from Silicon Valley, which is against the regulations. Moments like the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2017 have sparked strong questions about the role that social media and society play in society, as well as the influence it exerts on its users. More recently, the terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, rekindled the debate over the role of the Internet in the radicalization of bad actors, terrorist groups and hate groups.

This recent editorial is an evolution of Zuckerberg's comments almost exactly one year ago, when he had stated at various outlets that it was not "sure not to be regulated" and that considered that regulators had a role to play, provided that was the case. "Good" regulation, and that he felt that "the guidelines are much better than dictating specific processes". His editorial calls for following specific and standardized rules for Internet companies, and it seems that Facebook's experiences at the time led to the search for the soul on its role in society and the connection of around the world, as well as on its own future, what Zuckerberg recently reported, could shift to a more privacy-friendly platform, focused more on private messaging and on groups than on news feeds public.

This introspection coincided with calls for more regulation for companies such as Facebook and for urgent calls to split the company, not only from retail outlets like us, but also from presidential candidates. who argue that they exercise too much influence on society. The Congress has held numerous hearings on the subject, and while there are plans and proposed legislation for such a regulatory framework, there is still little to be done. Despite this, the pressure on Facebook continues to increase and this last editorial seems to indicate that Facebook recognizes that the world in which it will live during the first 15 years of its life will be very different from that of the next 15 years. .