The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
A new need for protection
There are not yet similar standards and accountability requirements for 21st-century technologies like social media. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission is one of the few regulatory bodies working to hold digital platforms to account for business practices that are deceptive or potentially unfair. The FTC is now investigating Facebook over the Cambridge Analytical situation. There is plenty of demand for more supervision of social media platforms. Several existing proposals could regulate and support trust online. Other countries have rules, such as the
EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. However, in the U.S., technology companies like Facebook have actively blocked and resisted these efforts while policymakers and other tech gurus have convinced people they’re not necessary. Facebook has the technical know-how to give users more control over their private data, but has chosen not to – and that’s not surprising. No laws or other institutional rules require it, or provide necessary oversight to ensure that it does. Until a major social media platform like Facebook is required to reliably and transparently demonstrate that it is protecting the interests of its users – as distinct from its advertising customers – the calls to break the company up and start afresh are only going to grow.
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Denise Anthony is professor of Sociology, Dartmouth College and Luke Stark is postdoctoral fellow in Sociology, Dartmouth College.
Source: the conversation
