U.K. considers creating a government watchdog to regulate social media companies like Facebook and Twitter if they fail to block content like terrorist propaganda or images of child abuse.
FILE - In this April 18, 2017 file photo, conference workers speak in front of a demo booth at Facebook's annual F8 developer conference, in San Jose, Calif. The U.K. for the first time on Monday April 8, 2019, proposed direct regulation of social media companies, with senior executives potentially facing fines if they fail to block damaging content such as terrorist propaganda or images of child abuse.
The British plans would create a statutory “duty of care” for social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter to protect people who use their sites. The plan, which includes an independent regulator funded by a levy on internet companies, will be open for public comment for three months before the government publishes draft legislation.
Britain will consider imposing financial penalties similar to those in the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which permit fines of up to 4% of a company’s annual worldwide revenue, Wright said. In extreme cases, the government may also seek the power to fine individual company directors and prevent companies from operating in the U.K.
After the March 15 mosque shootings that killed 50 and wounded of 50 more, New Zealand’s Privacy Commissioner wants his country to follow Australia’s lead. British Home Secretary Sajid Javid, whose department collaborated on the U.K. proposal unveiled Monday, criticized tech firms for failing to act despite repeated calls for action against harmful content.Critics say the end result could be that Google and Facebook end up becoming the web’s censors. Others suggested the rules could stifle innovation and strengthen the dominance of technology giants because smaller firms won’t have the money to comply with such regulation.
“Issuing large fines and hitting companies with bigger legal threats is taking a 20th century bullwhip approach to a problem that requires a nuanced solution,” he said. “It needs machine learning tools to manage the 21st century problems of the internet, combined with the courage and foresight to establish independent frameworks that preserve the freedoms societies enjoy in the physical world, as well as the online one.
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