Governments on at least 4 continents are stepping up their calls to regulate Facebook, YouTube and other social media companies after years of frustration with how they've managed violent content.
“The era of social media firms regulating themselves is over. It’s time to do things differently. It’s time to keep our children safe,” British Prime Minister Theresa May said in a videoThe argument goes to the heart of social media’sbusiness model: showing ads alongside content posted at will by mostly nonprofessional users, generally without the companies paying for the content or being liable for it.
“Technologically, they’re not able to explain to regulators what algorithms they use, and so of course the regulators are going to be frustrated,” said Lucie Krahulcova, a Melbourne-based policy analyst for Access Now, which promotes free expression online.The idea of using criminal law, not just civil liability, to clamp down on online content is particularly unusual in democratic countries such as Australia.
“The general public doesn’t have that much empathy for the tech companies, but there’s not also not as much awareness of free speech or the right to data protection,” she said.
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