Governments must regulate social networks and not the companies themselves, Facebook’s head of global affairs and a former deputy prime minister of the UK said in an interview on Monday, 24th June 2019.
Speaking to the BBC, in his call for governments to regulate social networks, Clegg said,
“It’s not for private companies, however big or small, to come up with those rules. It is for democratic politicians in the democratic world to do so.”
Clegg, the former leader of UK political party the Liberal Democrats, said there was a “pressing need” for new “rules of the road” on issues including data privacy and election rules.
At the same time, companies such as Facebook should play a “mature role” in advocating regulation, he told the BBC.
Britain has said it will make social media bosses personally liable for harmful content and shut down offending platforms under a “world-leading” government plan.
Coming in for heavy criticism over the past year, Facebook has instituted many changes. This is particularly on privacy and the transparency of political campaign ads.
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has called for “globally harmonised” online regulation.
Sceptics say Facebook seeks to buy time amid calls for tougher regulation in the United States and elsewhere. There are also some calls to break up major tech firms. Other activists question whether they should maintain immunity from liability for content posted by users.