Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg’s call for “globally harmonised” online regulation raises questions about how internet platforms can deal with concerns about misinformation and abusive content while remaining open to free speech.
Here are key questions about the latest proposal from Facebook:
What is Facebook seeking?
The leading social network wants a single set of rules on content to avoid running afoul of national requirements to remove “hate speech” or inappropriate content, kicking responsibility to a yet to-be-determined entity to avoid being accused of censorship.
Zuckerberg said in a weekend post that “a common global framework” rather than country-by-country regulation “will ensure that the internet does not get fractured, entrepreneurs can build products that serve everyone, and everyone gets the same protections.”
The Facebook chief says that the US and other countries “should build on the protections” offered in Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), but stopped short of offering specifics. He did say any plan should not require data to be stored locally, “which would make it more vulnerable to unwarranted access.”
The latest proposals appear to go a step…