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France 'embeds' regulators at Facebook

November 14, 2018 | Expert Insights

Facebook will allow French regulators to "embed" inside the company to examine how it combats online hate speech, the first time the wary tech giant has opened its doors in such a way.

President Macron made headlines by winning the French Presidential Elections in 2017 despite a massive wave of fake news directed towards his campaign.

Background

Facebook, a social media and social networking site, was launched by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 along with some of his Harvard roommates. Almost instantly the site was a hit among its users and grew exponentially across the world. As of June 2017, Zuckerberg said that Facebook had two billion users monthly.

Facebook has more than 2 billion monthly active users as of June 2017. Its popularity has led to prominent media coverage for the company, including significant scrutiny over privacy and the psychological effects it has on users.

In May 2017, it emerged that Facebook was a key influencer in the outcome of the 2016 US Presidential election and the Brexit vote, according to those who ran the campaigns. Those in charge of these digital campaigns believe that the social network was decisive in both wins. In the past years, social media, in general, has come under scrutiny for hate campaigns and terrorist propaganda, the presence of bots, and the proliferation of so-called fake news ahead of elections.

Since the start of 2018, Facebook has committed to making significant changes to their platform. In a post on his page on the social network early this month, creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the website was making too many errors enforcing policies and preventing misuse of its tools. Zuckerberg has famously set himself challenges every year since 2009. This year the Facebook creator said his “Personal challenge” is to fix important issues with the platform to prevent misuse of the website.

Analysis

Facebook will allow French regulators to "embed" inside the company to examine how it combats online hate speech, the first time the wary tech giant has opened its doors in such a way, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday (Nov 12).

From January, Macron's administration will send a small team of senior civil servants to the company for six months to verify Facebook's goodwill and determine whether its checks on racist, sexist or hate-fuelled speech could be improved.

"It's a first," Macron told the annual Internet Governance Forum in Paris. "I'm delighted by this very innovative experimental approach," he said. "It's an experiment, but a very important first step in my view."

The trial project is an example of what Macron has called "smart regulation", something he wants to extend to other tech leaders such as Google, Apple and Amazon.

The move follows a meeting with Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg in May, when Macron invited the CEOs of some of the biggest tech firms to Paris, telling them they should work for the common good.

The officials may be seconded from the telecoms regulator and the interior and justice ministries. Facebook said the selection was up to the French presidency.

It is unclear whether the group will have access to highly-sensitive material such as Facebook's algorithms or codes to remove hate speech. It could travel to Facebook's European headquarters in Dublin and global base in Menlo Park, California if necessary, the company said.

"The best way to ensure that any regulation is smart and works for people is by governments, regulators and businesses working together to learn from each other and explore ideas,"Nick Clegg, the former British deputy prime minister who is now head of Facebook's global affairs, said in a statement.

France's approach to hate speech has contrasted sharply with Germany, Europe's leading advocate of privacy. Since January, Berlin has required sites to remove banned content within 24 hours or face fines of up to 50 million euros (S$78 million). That has led to accusations of censorship.

France's use of embedded regulators is modelled on what happens in its banking and nuclear industries.

Assessment

Our assessment is that the Cambridge Analytica scandal has pushed countries to implement independent verification systems to combat rising misinformation on Facebook. France’s methods have been validated in other industries before (its banking and nuclear energy industries have a similar arrangement) and are therefore based on a tested method. We believe that other countries which host Facebook offices may look to implement similar measures in the near future.