"We are sleepwalking into another era of US domination" - Professor Mark Skilton comments on the need to regulate FB
Professor Mark Skilton of WBS comments on the issues highlighted by Sir Nick Clegg, Facebook’s head of communications, in his Berlin speech:-
"I think we need to be very careful when Facebook is 'recommending' more regulation on partitioning personal data for privacy and the issue of fake news.
"While GDPR does give EU countries a stick to beat these social media platforms it is often misunderstood that this can protect Facebook and Google and others ironically by reinforcing their platform control over 'safe data'.
"What this 'call to action' by Clegg fails to mention is the access of this mountain of data and its labelling and classification by Facebook for users and companies that are locked into using them regardless.
"We need safer regulation for sure and to protect freedom of speech, as seen in the Australian and New Zealand post-Christchurch case, but the problems of market monopoly and the throttling of innovation and competition by these giant platforms is destroying future value sharing, regardless of their “nice man” PR stunts by Clegg and their lobbying.
"GDPR does not deal with opening up data and reducing the chronic monopolization of data by social platforms and new legislation is urgently needed to redress this to a balanced playing field - which will only get much worse whenever 5G gets off the ground and Artificial Intelligence becomes increasingly integrated. We are sleepwalking into another era of US domination of the many by the few mega cloud businesses unless this is sorted out."
25 June 2019