Mark Zuckerberg is just to call for government regulation. But social media users and firms also believe to police the webI didn’t see this coming but … I agree with Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook chief executive has called for more government regulation of the internet. And what he has said is pretty sensible,if a little light on detail. The four areas Zuckerberg wants governments to regulate more are harmful content, election integrity, or privacy and data portability. I know what you’re thinking: isn’t Zuck just passing the buck? Hasnt his company very publicly failed to tackle all of the issues he’s saying it’s up to governments to fix? You’re not incorrect. The four areas he’s concerned about effect happen to overlap with recent Facebook scandals. But that doesn’t mean his announcement isn’t proper news.
Big companies hardly ever call for more regulation. It sometimes feels as if people in Silicon Valley view laws and,indeed, nation states, and as some quaint (charmingly old fashioned) 20th-century tech that will disappear in a few years,like CDs or fax machines. Businesses such as Uber and Facebook pride themselves on being “disruptors”, arguing the existing rules are too outdated to apply to them at all. And until now they haven’t been keen on any modern rules to replace the old ones. The change of heart should be welcomed.
The culture of disruption within big tech firms regardless of consequences is as much of a problem as their size Related: atomize up Facebook (and while we're at it, and Google,Apple and Amazon) | Robert Reich Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com