Social media companies must be compelled to address safety concerns, research chair tells ethics committee

The government needs to set clear standards of transparency and accountability that all social media platforms should be required to meet, if it hopes to address concerns around privacy, foreign interference, misinformation, and radicalization, the House of Commons privacy and ethics committee was told Monday. While there are valid concerns regarding the potential for TikTok and other platforms to be exploited by malicious actors, they are not limited to any single platform and banning them is not an effective solution, said Anatoliy Gruzd, Canada research chair in privacy-preserving digital technologies. Instead, a comprehensive approach is needed to ensure all platforms, regardless of size or location, commit to strategies that address these issues. The Toronto Metropolitan University professor also serves as co-director of the Social Media Lab, a research institute specialized in the technology’s impact on society. He was called as a witness to the committee's ongoing study into data harvesting and privacy violations on social media, where he advocated for effective regulatory strategies. His key recommendations included compelling platforms to commit to “privacy not just by design, but by default;” investing in and expanding their trust and safety teams; and sharing data with independent researchers and journalists. All countries utilize propaganda to some degree, not just authoritarian regimes, and data harvesting is a pervasive practice across the social media industry, said Gruzd. This defeats the purpose of banning specific platforms – like the fed’s ban on TikTok and WeChat – which he said can also undermine trust in government, legitimize censorship, and create an environment for misinformation to thrive. “We need to look at this holistically,” he stated, highlighting the recent Chinese propaganda campaign reported by Meta Platforms Inc., which spanned multiple platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube. “State actors would use any tools available and any social media platforms that are popular in Canada would be a target.” To tackle disinformation, platforms have to invest in and expand their trust and safety teams, partner with fact-checking organizations, and provide access to credible news content. “Unfortunately, some platforms, like Meta and X, are doing the exact opposite,” said Gruzd. He urged legislators to create regulations similar to the European Union’s Code of Practice on Disinformation and Transparency Database to require platforms to provide detailed reports on their privacy practices and what they are doing to combat disinformation. The professor also called for mandated access for independent researchers and journalists to platforms’ data, something the EU has also mandated through its Digital Services Act. He argued this would help detect harmful trends as they arise and hold companies accountable for their actions. “Teaching digital literacy is important, but it’s unfair to place all the responsibilities on individuals,” said Gruzd, acknowledging calls to educate Canadians on the perils of social media. Disconnecting from social media is unrealistic and impractical in today’s digital age, which is why the onus of preserving people’s privacy should be shifted from the individual to the companies that run these platforms. “Currently, it’s all too common for platforms to collect more data by default than necessary,” said Gruzd. Making platforms adopt principles of “privacy by default” would help address this issue, along with the tedious process of adjusting privacy settings or reading long and complicated terms of service agreements that users often skip. Gruzd lauded a community driven initiative that deconstructs and simplifies the various privacy policies of online platforms, known as Terms of Service; Didn't Read. He encouraged the government to take a page out of the project’s book to compel independent oversight of how platforms handle user data. – Reporting by Phalen Tynes-MacDonald at pcreed@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy

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Social media companies must be compelled to address safety concerns, research chair tells ethics committee

News | November 28, 2023

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