Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg reiterates that her company needs to be regulated
No surprise, she wants Facebook to be involved in developing any rules that might affect it.
COO Sheryl Sandberg says Facebook is leaning into regulation.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg reiterated the social network's call for regulation on Wednesday, saying the company wanted to be an active partner in developing new rules to govern the internet. The law could be modeled on the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, Sandberg suggested at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France.
The EU law, which is a little over a year old, governs companies that collect, store or process large amounts of information on residents of the EU, requiring more openness about what data they have and who they share it with.
"Companies like ours shouldn't make as many decisions as we do," Sandberg said. "New rules need to be written for the internet and we want to help make that happen."
Sandberg's comments fit into Facebook's evolving attitude as it faces calls for it to be broken up, most notably from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who is running for president. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year that the government and regulators should play a "more active role" when it comes to harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability.
During the appearance, Sandberg also conceded Facebook wasn't prepared for the foreign interference that took place on the social network during the 2016 presidential. Zuckerberg had previously said it was "crazy" to think that fake news on Facebook swayed voters in 2016.
"We really missed it," Sandberg said, according to The Wall Street Journal.