Guardian Editorial: Facebook should be regulated like a media company
This is in the UK. Interesting read.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/28/the-guardian-view-on-zuckerbergs-facebook-regulate-it-as-a-media-firm?CMP=twt_gu&__twitter_impression=true
When Mark Zuckerberg appeared before the US Congress this spring he insisted he was not running a media company. But it is getting easier to say why he does. Facebook, the site Mr Zuckerberg founded almost 15 years ago, hosts and produces content. It sells advertising against content. It employs thousands of moderators who help patrol the content it “surfaces”. Two months after he gave his testimony Facebook, without irony, announced plans to launch news shows on its video portal. Its database of privately shared information and personal connections has been used to destabilise democracy. Mr Zuckerberg ought to be held accountable for running a media company.
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It is part of a deliberate defensive strategy to delay, deny and deflect criticism. This will only make the regulatory backlash bigger. History shows that political power can be brutally enforced over an influential private enterprise when it has compromised morality for the sake for profit. Facebook might be able to brush off allegations it is too addictive. But it cannot dismiss so easily the charge that it is bad for democracy. The company is long overdue a regulatory reckoning.
*snip*
In Britain, Facebook has become second only to the BBC as a source of news despite spreading prejudice and falsehood. The media watchdog Ofcom is right to say social media must be regulated. Around the world, Facebook has been used to disrupt elections, spread viral propaganda and promote deadly campaigns of hate. When an investigative journalist from the Philippines confronted Mr Zuckerberg about Facebook being the “fertiliser” of democratic collapse, noting 97% of her country were on it, the billionaire replied: “Oh well. What are the other 3% doing?” Mr Zuckerberg is a menace to society because he disputes public accountability for what his company does, and is loth to consider society’s interests as well as his own.
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