UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The United Nations chief on Thursday called for global rules to regulate powerful social media companies like Twitter and Facebook.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he believed it should not be a company that has the power to decide whether, for example, then President Donald Trump’s Twitter account should be closed, as one questioner asked.
Instead, he said, a “mechanism” should be created “where there is a regulatory framework with rules that allow it to be done in accordance with the law”.
“I don’t think we can live in a world where too much power is given to a small number of companies,” emphasized Guterres at a news conference.
Earlier this month, Twitter ended Trump’s nearly 12-year run and closed his account, cutting off an instant line of communication with his 89 million followers that was a trademark of his presidency. Facebook and Instagram suspended Trump.
Twitter said Trump’s tweets may incite violence following the January 6 uprising on U.S. Capitol Hill by his supporters. Conservatives have accused companies of censoring and violating the First Amendment’s right to freedom of expression.
Guterres said he is “particularly concerned” about the power of social media companies.
He pointed out “the volume of information being collected about each of us, the lack of control we have over … the data relating to ourselves, the fact that this data can be used not only for commercial purposes , to sell to advertising companies … but also to change our behavior, and the risks that this will also be used politically for the control of citizens in countries ”.
Guterres said that this “requires serious discussion” and that is one of the goals of his “Roadmap for Digital Cooperation” launched last June.
The purpose of the roadmap is to promote “a safer and more equitable digital world”.
It calls for action in eight areas, including achieving universal connectivity to the Internet by 2030, “promoting trust and security in the digital environment” and “building a more effective architecture for digital cooperation”,
“Digital technology issues are often low on political agendas,” he says.
Among the provisions of the roadmap is a call for strengthening the Internet Governance Forum, which brings together people from various public and private sector groups to discuss public policy issues related to the Internet, “in order to make it more agile and relevant. for the current digital problems. “