Facebook launches multi-pronged push toward self-regulation

Facebook wants to beat governments to the punch on regulations and oversight.

Company leaders have been pushing out their message on many fronts, starting with an op-ed from CEO Mark Zuckerberg in The Washington Post outlining proposals for governance of social media companies.

He wrote:

Technology is a major part of our lives, and companies such as Facebook have immense responsibilities. Every day, we make decisions about what speech is harmful, what constitutes political advertising, and how to prevent sophisticated cyberattacks. These are important for keeping our community safe. But if we were starting from scratch, we wouldn’t ask companies to make these judgments alone.

I believe we need a more active role for governments and regulators. By updating the rules for the Internet, we can preserve what’s best about it — the freedom for people to express themselves and for entrepreneurs to build new things — while also protecting society from broader harms.