Be ‘wary’ of regulating online speech: Facebook

While online misinformation needs to be taken seriously, that doesn’t mean the government should begin regulating speech online, Facebook Inc. is telling the panel leading the government’s review of the broadcasting and telecom acts. It said there are three types of online misinformation -- financially-motivated scammers and spammers, strategically-motivated misinformation designed to achieve an outcome, like influence an election, and misinformation “that is shared between individuals that are in fact better classified as real opinions or beliefs.” It outlined a number of initiatives it has been undertaking to fight the first two, such as disabling fake accounts, and partnerships on fact-checking and digital literacy. Facebook noted that in the four provincial and municipal elections held in Canada in 2018, it “deployed the full arsenal of tools mentioned above, and have had open channels of communication and collaboration with the respective provincial election commissions. We believe that we have been able to respond and resolve areas of concern to all parties’ satisfaction.” But it said, when it comes to the the third kind of misinformation, “we do not believe that the opinions, views and speech of authentic people on Facebook, however in the minority, should be subject to some form of editorial control.” It noted briefing documents prepared for Heritage deputy minister Graham Flack said that the government can’t decide for Canadians what is and what isn’t fake news. “We are of the view that the Panel should be equally wary of having government entities play a role in regulating opinions, views and speech online.” Over the past year, Facebook has been under fire over the issue of fake news and misinformation, with the House ethics committee calling in December for new rules for social media companies following their study into whether Canadians’ user data had been abused in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In 2017, in light of fake news stories being shared on their platforms, Facebook and Alphabet Inc. appeared before a House committee to suggest that while they are increasing measures to deal with the issue, they are also not "arbiters of truth."

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Be ‘wary’ of regulating online speech: Facebook

Brief | January 22, 2019

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