Mark Zuckerberg says he wants more regulation for Facebook



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ON 30 MARCH Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's boss, talked about the future of his business for the second time in a month. His first note, published on March 6, covered a series of planned technical changes to Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. Then, in an article from Washington Posthe urged governments around the world to regulate social networks. More specifically, it wants them to protect the public from harmful content (such as massacre videos), guarantee the integrity of elections, ensure that users can move their data between departments and guarantee the confidentiality of their information.

You may think that Rich comes from the boss of a company accused of having broken the four precepts; on April 3, it appeared that some user data had been stored on insecure third-party servers. Zuckerberg's plea seems to be an attempt to take tougher action that could hurt Facebook's revenue from the sale of targeted ads, as his model faces new challenges.

On March 28, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) accused Facebook of allowing advertisers to target homebuyers based on their race, religion, or other discriminatory factors. This week, a team led by researchers from Northeastern University in Boston presented work suggesting that Facebook's algorithms could inadvertently discriminate, optimizing engagement. In the algorithmic search of the users who will respond the fastest to a given ad, Facebook can automatically exclude certain users from minority groups.

Tailor-made ads are behind the big profits of the company; making them less accurate could hurt margins. the HUD A charge was laid a week after Facebook settled a similar complaint with the National Fair Housing Alliance and the American Civil Liberties Union. Facebook said to have been surprised by HUDProsecution because he was working with the department to prevent discrimination.

Instead, the company discusses its own efforts to tackle Mr. Zuckerberg's four problems. Last year, he suggested creating an arm's length arm's length arbitrator to make difficult decisions about unacceptable content. In the last nine months, a team of Facebook employees has traveled the world discussing how this could work. On April 1, the firm opened a public consultation on the subject. The principles will likely include providing fixed compensation to board members (likely to be around 40 individuals) and avoid being fired by Facebook.

Now, he seems to want to go further. "It would be good for the Internet if more countries adopted regulations such as GDPR common framework, "Zuckerberg said in his editorial, referring to the EU's general data protection regulation: he wants the US to make Internet companies, including his own, more responsible," by imposing sanctions when we make mistakes. "Mr. Zuckerberg added that he was ready to discuss new regulations with legislators around the world.

What counts as an error is of course subject to interpretation. So, apparently, is ready to talk. Facebook is currently appealing the decision of Elizabeth Denham, the UK's largest privacy and data protection regulator, to handle user data in view of the Brexit referendum in November. 2016. Mr. Zuckerberg has repeatedly ignored the demands of the British. Deputys to testify at committee hearings on Facebook's role in the referendum. On April 1, Ms. Denham called on the company to discontinue her appeal, given Mr. Zuckerberg's new openness to regulation and accountability. Nothing indicates that Facebook plans to withdraw the call. When asked why his boss did not engage with British lawmakers, the firm declined to comment.

It will take more than one article to get governments to trust Mr. Zuckerberg and his company. Politicians from all walks of life, in Europe and America, are trying to criticize all the giants of the internet. For now, however, investor confidence in Facebook remains firm. Despite HUDDiscrimination, the share price of the company is dynamic.

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