In an effort to curb the spread of fake news, misuse of user data and bullying of smaller tech companies, British lawmakers said on Monday that Facebook and other big tech companies should adhere to a mandatory code of ethics.
As the UK parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee pointed out in a damning report on Facebook chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, These companies have had little success in preventing harmful content from spreading on their platforms.
Damian Collins, the commission's chairman, said: "Citizens' rights need to be enshrined in statute. Tech companies must abide by a code of conduct set out by Parliament and overseen by an independent regulator." Facebook has been the focus of the committee's investigation since the Cambridge incident, with Mr Collins saying that "in the evidence given to the committee, Facebook has often deliberately tried to frustrate our work by giving incomplete, dishonest and sometimes misleading answers to our questions". In addition to Facebook, he pointed out that other tech giants like Google and Twitter are also violating civil rights.
Us lawmakers have questioned the use of Facebook cryptocurrency by terrorists
Members of the U.S. house of representatives on Thursday grilled KennethBlanco, head of the financial crimes enforcement network (FinCEN), about Facebook's cryptocurrency plans.
Representatives Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO), Trey Hollingsworth (R-IN), Bill Foster (D-IL) and French Hill (R-AR) held a briefing with members of the House Financial Services Committee, With Blanco, who heads the Treasury Department's anti-money laundering unit FinCEN, to discuss the Libra project.
The purpose of the briefing was to gain a broader understanding of how machine learning and artificial intelligence can limit illicit money laundering and related activities.
Cleaver's concerns appear to stem from allegations that Facebook improperly stored user data and spread misinformation over the past few years, according to a press release.
"We've seen foreign adversaries and bad guys do significant damage to our democracy through Facebook's platform, and that's just through texting and advertising," he said in a statement.
"Before we allow such a large corporation to begin processing millions to billions of financial transactions, we must study these issues and ensure that we have adequate tools and guardrails to prevent terrorists, extremists and/or enemies from using such a platform to harm our country."
"Evil Actor"
While the article did not reveal Blanco's opinion of Libra or whether or how FinCEN intended to oversee the project, it did say Cleaver's questions focused on Libra and Calibra. Calibra, a new Facebook subsidiary, will develop digital wallets and other services for the cryptocurrency.
Earlier this year, Calibra registered with FinCEN as a financial services company.
Broadly speaking, "bad actors" are looking for new ways to conduct illicit financial activities, Cleaver said in a statement, citing cryptocurrencies and other new markets as tools these actors can adapt to.
He added: "Now we see a huge company like Facebook which has shown the inability to identify and stop these actors in an acceptable Level-creating virtual currency of their own called Libra, and it cannot be underestimated the importance of Congress and financial launchers proactively utilizing the latest and most powerful technology to ensure that the financial system is not being compromised When used."
He went on to say that participants in the briefing had a "productive discussion" about how the United States could take steps to prevent abuse.
The two parties opposed to
Thursday's briefing comes amid widespread bipartisan opposition to Facebook's cryptocurrency plans, which were formally unveiled last week.
The full House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Libra next month, one day after the Senate financial Services Committee held its own.
Other regulators around the world are also studying the cryptocurrency, with the Group of Seven leading economies setting up a task force to examine its implications.
Cleaver has long been concerned about potentially illegal activities using cryptocurrencies. According to the release, he called on the Bitcoin Foundation and digital commerce to find ways to prevent extremist groups from using cryptocurrencies.
Robert Mueller, the US special counsel, also called on FinCEN to investigate the space after he found that Russian intelligence officials had used bitcoin to finance efforts to disrupt the 2016 presidential election.