Greater Facebook regulation imminent

Greater Facebook regulation is looking imminent after a year-long inquiry that included issues over the misuse of personal data.

The inquiry, launched in-part after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, comes after a spate of recent data breach incidents involving the social medial platform. The recommendations made by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee include an independent regulator to oversee tech firms like Facebook.

It’s not been an easy process judging from the remarks of MPs and others involved with the inquiry. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, didn’t even come to the UK to answer questions himself, which has reportedly caused a stir.

Facebook regulation set to come into force

The new general tech firm and Facebook regulation is set to come into force in efforts to create a radical shift of power from the corporations to the people.

As a result of the spread of false news and misinformation, and the misuse of personal data, change is set to happen. And with Facebook reportedly confirming that it would be open to “meaningful” regulation, it looks like progress could be imminent.

For those who are worried about the data held by social media giants like Facebook, this news may be a sigh of relief for you. If you’ve ever read ‘The Circle’ by Dave Eggers, or seen the film adaptation starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, you’ll probably welcome this news even more…

What is the new Facebook regulation being proposed?

The new forms of Facebook regulation that should also extend to other tech giants, including Twitter, look appealing. They include an independent regulator that will:

• Oversee a compulsory ethical code that must be adhered to by tech companies;
• Have powers to launch legal action for breaches of the code;
• Oversee tech companies’ obligations to remove and prevent information being shared by bad sources and prevent and remove general disinformation.

There’s also calls for a reform of the electoral rules on overseas involvement and the introduction of new taxes to pay for a regulator and for resources used by the UK’s data watchdog, the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office).

Speaking about the need for greater Facebook regulation given a reported lack of cooperation so far, the Chair of the inquiry said:

“We believe that in its evidence to the committee, Facebook has often deliberately sought to frustrate our work, by giving incomplete, disingenuous and at times misleading answers to our questions.

These are issues that the major tech companies are well aware of, yet continually fail to address. The guiding principle of the ‘move fast and break things’ culture seems to be that it is better to apologise than ask permission.”

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