Facebook's Zuckerberg Backs Privacy Legislation

By WSJ City

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive and co-founder of Facebook endorsed federal privacy legislation and greater regulation of political advertising, even as he cast governments as too slow to address many of the internet's thorniest problems.

KEY FACTS

   -- Zuckerberg said Facebook was racing to solve problems like misinformation 
      and how best to police online content. 
 
   -- He expressed hope that governments would ultimately build a framework for 
      tackling those matters. 
 
   -- He also addressed criticism that the acquisitions of Instagram and 
      WhatsApp hindered competition. 
 
   -- He said the units blossomed under Facebook and would not have had the 
      same level of success on their own. 
 
   -- His remarks came hours after the White House dialled up its criticism of 
      Silicon Valley... 
 
   -- ...and called for a social-media summit to have "a robust conversation" 
      about the responsibility of online platforms.

Why This Matters

Issues such as 'deep fakes', manipulated videos, are likely to be discussed at the summit. It seems the White House and its Republican allies will make alleged anticonservative bias a major issue heading into the 2020 election, as they did in 2018. The companies generally have denied accusations that they try to suppress conservative speech online.

Meanwhile, Zuckerberg's calls for more regulation come as the social-media company is bracing for an expected multibillion-dollar fine from the FTC over its privacy lapses.

A fuller story is available on WSJ.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 27, 2019 04:24 ET (08:24 GMT)

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