Many Countries' Lawmakers Seek Principles to Fight Fake News, Slam Zuckerberg's Absence
Internet law must derive from globally agreed principles, representatives from nine parliaments said in a declaration signed Tuesday in London. The members of an "international grand committee" investigating disinformation and "fake news" noted that the "world in which the traditional…
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institutions of democratic government operate is changing at an unprecedented pace." Legislatures and governments must urgently ensure that citizens' fundamental rights and safeguards aren't violated or undermined by the unchecked march of technology, they said. "Representative democracy is too important and too hard won to be left undefended from online harms." The declaration's principles state: (1) The internet is global and the law relating to it must have globally agreed principles. (2) Deliberate spreading of disinformation is a credible threat to democracy. (3) Global technology companies must recognize their great power and show they're ready to accept responsibility. (4) Social media companies should be held liable if they fail to comply with judicial, statutory or regulatory orders to take down harmful and misleading content from their platforms. (5) Tech companies must demonstrate accountability to users by making themselves fully answerable to national legislatures and other organs of representative democracy. Signers represented Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Ireland, Latvia, Singapore and the U.K. Lawmakers took testimony Tuesday from, among others, Facebook Vice President-Policy Solutions Richard Allan and U.K. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham. Legislators at the hearing called it unprecedented, given the breadth of countries represented. They chastised Facebook for not sending CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The company declined further comment to us, as did the Internet Association. "I wouldn't characterize the decision as a 'blowing off'" of the invitation for Zuckerberg to appear, Allan responded to Charlie Angus of Canada's House of Commons, who used that phrase and said the company "lost the trust of the international community to self-police." "Our intent is to be there, to answer the questions that you have" at appearances in various countries, Allan said, apologizing. Zuckerberg and the company are engineering fixes, Allan said. "I will not disagree with you that we have damaged public trust through some of the actions we have taken," Allan said. He acknowledged the company had hired Definers, a firm it's stopped working with that targets critics (see 1811230021). He said a "regulatory framework" may be needed. It's not "up to Facebook to determine what regulatory structure it ought to be under, it's up to parliaments," the U.K.'s Damian Collins said. "That's why we're here."