Facebook Exec: Algorithms Should Be 'Broadly' Regulated With More Transparency

A top Facebook executive said Sunday that the social media giant broadly supports regulators accessing its algorithms as well as greater transparency amid mounting concerns about the companys effects on children and its spread of harmful misinformation.

Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs, said that while he believes Facebook has done its best in filtering out harmful content and that its paused program Instagram Kids would have been part of a solution, he supports more oversight and regulation.

We need greater transparency, he told CNN s Dana Bash. The systems that we have in place ... should be held to account, if necessary, by regulation so that people can match what our systems say theyre supposed to do from what actually happens.

.@DanaBashCNN presses Facebook Vice President of
Global Affairs Nick Clegg on tens of thousands of pages of internal research and documents, which were released by a whistleblower, indicating the company
was aware of various problems caused by its platforms. #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/HrFAZw4cvy

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.@DanaBashCNN presses Facebook Vice President of
Global Affairs Nick Clegg on tens of thousands of pages of internal research and documents, which were released by a whistleblower, indicating the company
was aware of various problems caused by its platforms. #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/HrFAZw4cvy
State of the Union (@CNNSotu) October 10, 2021

One suggestion he shared would be amending Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act. This regulation, passed in 1996, protects online service providers from liability for content published by its users, as well as liability for regulating it.

My suggestion would be to make that protection, which is afforded to online companies like Facebook, contingent on them applying the systems and their policies as theyre supposed to, he said. And if they fail to do that, they would then have that liability protection removed. That seems, to us at least, perhaps a sensible change to consider to Section 230.

Though Clegg said he supports more oversight, he defended the companys current handling of user content, telling ABC News George Stephanopoulos in a separate interview Sunday that the algorithms that Facebook and Instagram use to rank content in users newsfeeds is a necessary spam filter.

If you were to just sort of, across the board, remove the algorithm, the first thing that would happen is people would see more, not less, hate speech. More, not less, misinformation. More, not less, hurtful content, he said.

Pressed on whether Facebook will make business changes after whistleblowers testimony, top executive @nickclegg tells @GStephanopoulos that the company realizes \"we need to be held to account.\"

\"We understand that with success comes responsibility.\" https://t.co/N2TgM29FBx pic.twitter.com/jUaqwgicfu

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Pressed on whether Facebook will make business changes after whistleblowers testimony, top executive @nickclegg tells @GStephanopoulos that the company realizes "we need to be held to account."

"We understand that with success comes responsibility." https://t.co/N2TgM29FBx pic.twitter.com/jUaqwgicfu
This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 10, 2021

Clegg said that Facebook also plans to introduce new tools for parents. These will include an optional parental supervision control. There will also be automatic reminders for teens to take a break if using the program for long periods of time and a nudge to look away from content that may not be good for their well-being, he told Stephanopoulos.

Clegg said theres only so much companies can do on their own, however, and that more needs to be done by lawmakers.

We cant make all of these decisions, and provide all these societal solutions on our own. That does mean, or does require lawmakers to act as well, he said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who reacted to Cleggs comments in a later interview on CNN, said she appreciated his willingness to talk about the matter, but the time for action is now.

One, we need privacy legislation. Were one of the few countries that doesnt have a federal privacy policy that fits the sophistication of these tech companies, she told Bash. If you want to share all your private data, you have got to opt in and make an actual decision to do that.

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Klobuchar additionally advocated for expanding the Childrens Online Privacy Act so that it includes protections for children older than 13. The current act, which only offers protections for those under the age of 13, requires websites to have certain protections for children, including not collecting their personal information. Klobuchar has also called for stronger antitrust laws that would prevent companies, like Facebook, from getting too powerful.

I like competition. I believe in capitalism, she said. Breaking up Facebook will be up to, by the way, the attorney generals office or something like that. Were not going to do that by law. But what I think has been lacking here is any serious review of these mergers, not just with Facebook, with all of these tech companies, with pharmaceutical companies.