UK outlines sweeping regulations for tech companies – The Wall Street Journal

DUBLIN – To put it in the words of UK digital secretary Jeremy Wright, "The era of self-regulation for online companies is over." It was always inevitable that tech companies like Google and Facebook would face growing regulation. They have expanded and developed for around 20 years with minimal oversight by politicians and regulators with a minimal understanding of what the companies actually do. But after the scandals and revelations of the last few years, not to mention the hard work of privacy activists in Europe and the US, the party is officially over. Countries in the west are preparing to clamp down on toxic digital spaces that foster hate and terrorism, and no one is clamping harder than the UK. The government has released an outline of its plans for regulation for public comment and they are not gentle. Still, they're a lot more forgiving than the regulations in China, where technology firms were recognised early as a source of social discord and unrest. The Chinese have strict rules about what people can say and do online, and now the rest of the world looks set to follow, albeit in a less rigid and one-party way. And tech companies really have no one to blame but themselves, as they have made only the most passing efforts to stop the spread of hatred, misinformation, defamation, bullying, and general ugliness. The future will not look quite like the past for tech companies. Watch this space. – Felicity Duncan

Facebook, Google in Crosshairs of New U.K. Policy to Control Tech Giants

By Sam Schechner and Parmy Olson

The U.K. government plans to create a regulatory body to force the removal of harmful content from the internet, one of the most far-reaching legislative proposals from a host of countries trying to put a tighter leash on global technology companies.

___STEADY_PAYWALL___