Facebook and Google sign Tim Berners-Lee's "contract"

Facebook and Google have subscribed to the new Internet standards developed by Web founder Tim Berners-Lee, who said last week that it may be necessary to dissolve companies to reduce their dominance.

The "contract for the Web" will require Internet companies to respect the confidentiality of data and to "support the best of humanity", after a year in which they have been the subject of unprecedented criticism for scandals related to data privacy and the spread of fake news, hate speech and online abuse.

"Those of us who are online have their rights and freedoms at risk," said Sir Tim at the Web Summit technical conference in Lisbon on Monday night. "We need a new contract for the Web, with clear and difficult responsibilities for those with the power to improve it."

Nearly 60 companies, governments and business leaders signed the deal, including Facebook, Google, the French government and billionaire Richard Branson. Amazon, one of the "big companies" cited in a report published in the margins of the contract, has not subscribed.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The contract establishes high-level principles for a "free and open Web," such as improving Internet access and promoting privacy. But according to a spokesperson, the standards will be more detailed after consultations with governments and businesses, and could include a commitment to internet neutrality, which the British computer expert has fiercely advocated. after going back to the United States.

The World Wide Web Foundation, a campaign group founded by Sir Tim, has highlighted other threats to the Internet in a report published alongside the contract, such as the algorithmic biases embedded in automated tools and the fact that more than half of the population, especially the poorest and women, do not have access to the Internet.

"Algorithms and machines that replicate biases and reinforce inequalities found offline are making more and more online decisions with serious consequences in real life."

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Sir Tim has become increasingly candid about the companies he believes act as "gatekeepers" of the Internet and "control the ideas and opinions that are seen and shared".

Last week, Sir Tim told Reuters that companies such as Facebook and Google have become so powerful that they may have to be split in half unless their rivals reduce their influence. Earlier this year, it launched a start-up, Inrupt, to challenge their dominance with a new "decentralized Web" in which users own and control their data.