UPDATED 21:05 EDT / FEBRUARY 17 2019

APPS

UK report concludes Facebook is out of control and needs to be reined in

Following an 18-month investigation, a U.K. parliamentary committee has said that Facebook Inc. should not be allowed to govern itself.

The damning 108-page report, published today, accuses Facebook of concentrating more on profits than ethics, calling the company a “digital gangster.” Facebook is a threat to society, the report states, and something that needs immediate attention.

“Facebook continues to choose profit over data security, taking risks in order to prioritize their aim of making money from user data,” the report states. “It seems clear to us that Facebook acts only when serious breaches become public.”

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg came in for specific criticism. “We consider that data transfer for value is Facebook’s business model and that Mark Zuckerberg’s statement that ‘we’ve never sold anyone’s data’ is simply untrue,’” the report said. It added that Zuckerberg has failed in his role of a leader. He’s accused of showing contempt for the British government and thinking he is above the law.

The main topics, not surprisingly, were user privacy in light of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but also on the agenda was the platform’s being abused by foreign governments and in general the spread of “fake news.”

The committee said this term is loaded, and gave its own definition of disinformation, calling it “the deliberate creation and sharing of false and/or manipulated information that is intended to deceive and mislead audiences, either for the purposes of causing harm, or for political, personal or financial gain.”

The committee said democracy is at risk because of this spread of disinformation and “dark adverts” and the only solution is to enforce a “Compulsory Code of Ethics.” This should be overseen by a regulatory body that has the power to obtain information and begin legal proceedings if needed, the group said.

According to the report, Facebook should also be investigated for anti-competitive practices and it called for a more thorough investigation into how it uses people’s data. Digital campaigning during U.K. elections needs to be more closely scrutinized, while Facebook and other social media platforms need to distinguish “quality journalism” from content of lesser quality. On top that, all this regulating will be costly, so social media companies should cough up.

Photo: sueseecof/Flickr

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