Facebook needs regulation to fight fake news: UK lawmakers

This article is more than 12 months old

Feb 19, 2019 06:00 am

LONDON Facebook and other big tech companies should be subject to a compulsory code of ethics to tackle the spread of fake news, the abuse of users' data and the bullying of smaller companies, British lawmakers said yesterday.

In a report that singled out Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg for a failure of leadership and personal responsibility, the UK Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee said the companies proved ineffective in stopping harmful content and disinformation on their platforms.

"The guiding principle of the 'move fast and break things' culture often seems to be that it is better to apologise than ask permission," committee chairman Damian Collins said. "The rights of the citizen need to be established in statute, by requiring the tech companies to adhere to a code of conduct written into law by Parliament and overseen by an independent regulator."

Facebook became the focus of theinquiry after a whistleblower alleged that consultancy Cambridge Analytica had obtained the data of millions of users.

Mr Zuckerberg apologised last year for the "breach of trust". But he refused to appear before British lawmakers three times, which showed "contempt" the committee said. "Facebook has often deliberately sought to frustrate our work, by giving incomplete, disingenuous and at times misleading answers..." - REUTERS