A senior Facebook executive says the social media site is in favor of regulation to address some of the dark problems of the internet.
Nick Clegg, the former leader of the U.K. Liberal Democrat party who now heads global affairs for Facebook, says it is not “for private companies” to decide how to balance free speech versus public harm.
Clegg told the BBC on Monday that companies like Facebook are not “shunning” government intervention but advocating a “sensible way” forward in addressing issues such as cyberbullying or fake news.
Lawmakers have been pushing tech companies to take down offensive content more quickly and to do more in general to halt internet harm. But Clegg says it is up to “democratic politicians in the democratic world” to set the rules.
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In the interview, Clegg also said it was not something big tech companies “can or should” do on their own.
“It’s not for private companies, however big or small, to come up with those rules. It is for democratic politicians in the democratic world to do so,” he said, according to the BBC.
However, he stressed that companies like Facebook should play a “mature role” in advocating – rather than shunning – regulation.
Clegg also “dismissed claims that data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica influenced people’s decision to vote Leave in the EU referendum in 2016,” the BBC said.
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