Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg is calling for more regulation of harmful online content. Zuckerberg, however, warned that excessive control could stifle individual expression. He made this call at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
Social media platforms like his are under increasing pressure to curtail the spread of false information.
Facebook, in particular, has faced criticism for its policy on political advertising. The social media giants launched new policies for political advertising in the US in 2018 and extended the policy globally in 2019.
The policies require political ads to display who had sponsored them. A copy of the ad is also kept in a publicly-searchable database for up to seven years.
Facebook has also updated its policies not to include sponsored political posts by social media stars in its database. Posts made by politicians are not always fact-checked as part of the company’s free speech policy either.
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Zuckerberg also wants a new regulatory system for social media
At the conference on 15th February 2020, Zuckerberg said he supported regulation.
“We don’t want private companies making so many decisions about how to balance social equities without any more democratic process,” he said. He further added that “In the absence of that kind of regulation we will continue doing our best”.
“But I actually think on a lot of these questions that are trying to balance different social equities it is not just about coming up with the right answer, it is about coming up with an answer that society thinks is legitimate,” he finished.
The Facebook founder urged governments to come up with a mix of existing rules for telecoms and media companies, encouraging a new regulatory system for social media.
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