US Lawmaker Query Facebook Over Ethical Oversight

Facebook has always been under the knife for ethical misconduct. The tech company has received numerous warnings from the lawmakers over its inability to protect its users, tackle the spread of fake news, and accused of bullying smaller firms who depend on social media to thrive. In retrospect to these, the US lawmakers on Monday, said that social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, and the others should be compulsorily subject to a body or a code of ethics.

The UK parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee said that the companies have continuously failed to disrupt harmful information that circulate across the platforms, and in fact, refereed to it as “a failure of leadership and personal responsibility”.

Speaking about the ineptitude displayed by the tach giants, he said:      

“We need a radical shift in the balance of power between the platforms and the people. The rights of the citizen need to be established in statute, by requiring the tech companies to adhere to a code of conduct written into law by Parliament, and overseen by an independent regulator.”

Things went sour for Facebook after whistle blower, Christopher Whylie revealed that Cambridge Analytica had obtained millions of users’ information via the social network, which resulted in the breach of trust scandal in 2018.

Even though Zuckerberg apologised, he allegedly refused to show up three times before the British lawmakers. This act, according to Mr. Collins showed contempt for the people in authority and the member of nine legislatures which came from across the world.

Mr. Collins went on to say that everything Facebook does against the ethics is deliberate to frustrate the work of the lawmakers and get away with his ineptitude, because he finds a way to issue misleading answers to their queries or questions.  

In January, Mark Zuckerberg announced a merger across all his platforms- Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. While this may seem like a huge one for the tech giant, unifying the messaging platforms which mean a shift from encryption to privacy. It simply means that a Facebook friend could message a contact on WhatsApp if they both use the app. This is an intrusion of privacy. His employees and I aren’t looking forward to the merger.

Just, maybe, Facebook and the others need some form of regulations. Like Collins said, the age of inadequate self-regulation must come to an end.