Mark Zuckerberg’s call for stepped up government oversight of the internet met a skeptical response from privacy advocates and other critics who are frustrated with Facebook Inc.’s repeated missteps and say that its billionaire chief executive officer shouldn’t get to make the rules.
"I don’t think it’s ultimately for Mark Zuckerberg to decide how much regulation Mark Zuckerberg is prepared to accept," said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which has lodged numerous complaints about the company’s handling of personal data.
Zuckerberg’s policy gambit is likely to inflame the debate in Washington over how to rein in Facebook and other social media companies, including whether the U.S. should adopt the European standard as it drafts a national privacy law. It could also deepen rifts within tech industry ranks, especially if efforts arise to narrow the exemption from responsibility for content posted by users on their platforms that companies like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook enjoy.
Zuckerberg’s proposal over the weekend for government regulation of four broad areas --harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability -- emerged as Facebook and other social media companies confront a crescendo of bipartisan criticism. Among other things, they are accused of exploiting personal data, allowing election meddling on their platforms and being slow to address online violence and hate speech.
Amassed Power
The company’s founder unveiled his vision for regulation in a blog post just weeks after Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren urged the breakup of Facebook and other internet companies. Warren, a Massachusetts senator, said the businesses have amassed too much power and are damaging the economy and American democracy.
Roger McNamee, an early Facebook investor who’s now one of the company’s loudest critics, said in an interview that Zuckerberg’s proposal “would mostly absolve it of responsibility without addressing the underlying causes of election interference, hate speech, disinformation and the various privacy challenges that have emerged.”
McNamee, who is the co-founder of investment fund Elevation Partners Inc. and the author of the book “Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe,” pointed to the company’s plans to merge the data sets of Instagram and WhatsApp with Facebook’s, which he said “would greatly complicate the task of protecting users" privacy.
Cambridge Analytica Scandal
Facebook is fighting multiple investigations around the globe, many of which were launched last year in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, when it was revealed that the political consultancy with ties to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign had obtained data from millions of Facebook users without their consent.