Platforms

Aiming to tackle well-defined harms such as hate crime, stalking, and terrorist activity alongside issues such as trolling and disinformation, the United Kingdom government proposes combining work done across eight or more separate regulators into one. This new "super-regulator" could have powers to fine technology companies according to their revenue, or even to block them. It could also be able to prosecute individual executives. The proposed body could be funded either by an industry levy or from the proceeds of any enforcement fines it imposed.

Sens Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MM) sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking the FTC to address concerns regarding potential privacy, data security, and antitrust violations involving online platforms. “Tennesseans are rightly concerned about who owns their Virtual You,” Sen Blackburn said. “They want to be certain that their privacy is protected in both the physical and virtual space. The FTC has a responsibility to hold technology companies accountable for securing their platforms.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has proposed an independent watchdog that will write a "code of practice" for tech companies. The Online Harms White Paper is a joint proposal from the DCMS and the Home Office. A public consultation on the plans will run for 12 weeks. The paper suggests:

Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) announced that he is proposing new legislation to protect children from the dangers of the internet. The bill, called the Kids Internet Design and Safety (KIDS) Act, lays out six areas for new regulation:

Americans have a paradoxical attachment to the social-media platforms that have transformed communication, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds, saying they regard services such as Facebook to be divisive and a threat to privacy but continue to use them daily. Across age groups and political ideologies, adults in the survey said they held a negative view of the effects of social media—even though 70% use such services at least once a day.

Public Knowledge supports the creation of a new regulatory agency dedicated to protecting consumers from the consequences (intended or unintended) of tech platforms. The creation of a new agency must be done carefully and with purpose. This agency must have a clear charge from Congress to analyze the entire diverse landscape of tech platforms, not just the dominant firms. The agency must be well stocked with experts in technology, markets, online communications and influence, community building, and the law, and should be empowered with clear rulemaking authority.

More than 540 million Facebook records — including users’ comments, likes, account names and more — were left exposed on an Amazon cloud-computing server, researchers announced, marking the latest major privacy and security mishap to plague the social-networking giant. The trove is one of two data sets discovered to be in full public view by the security firm UpGuard, which also raised alarms with a second app developer that appears to have mishandled Facebook records including users’ interests and potentially their app passwords. Facebook said its policies prohibit app developers from “sto

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s call for new rules for the Internet is a start. The four proposals he makes open the door to a meaningful discussion about the effects of internet capitalism. Now what is needed is a similar look at the issues underlying the market dislocations caused by a handful of internet companies. As significant as Zuckerberg’s proposals are, it is important to recognize they deal with the effects of internet commerce more than their causes: the business model of internet companies.

Facebook may be facing a multi-billion dollar fine from the Federal Trade Commission over its privacy practices, but it’s the possibility of mandated changes to its data-driven business model that could be much more threatening to the company and its bottom line. The agency could seek changes in company behavior as part of a negotiated settlement, including limiting the way it collects and handles user data — the lifeblood of Facebook's advertising-driven business.