News and Media

On Tuesday, Facebook Vice President for Policy Solutions Richard Allan was grilled before a hearing comprised of nine countries : Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Ireland, Latvia, Singapore, France, Belgium and Britain. Described as a “ first-of-its-kind gathering ,” the international group of lawmakers had heavily pressed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to attend and answer for Facebook’s role in data privacy breaches, as well as the pervasiveness of fake news and propaganda spread on its platform.

Members of Congress have weighed in on the numerous problems that have recently plagued social media companies. In this short compilation of quotes, Senators and House members agree that the era of self-regulation for tech companies should be brought to an end.

Major tech giants are facing mounting pressure from law enforcement officials to provide information and monitor online terror activity. The Sydney Morning Herald reported last week that Lynne Owens, the director-general of Britain’s National Crime Agency, is advocating for joint efforts by intelligence-shared allies – including the United States – to push major tech companies for help in decrypting messages sent by alleged terrorists. Owens argued that major tech companies, especially those based in the United States, have been slow to act on countering encryption – a tool commonly used by crime gangs and terrorists. Owens stated the “Five Eyes,” an intelligence-sharing group – made up of Australia, Britain, the U.S., Canada and New Zealand, have the unique opportunity to “speak loudly with one voice.”

CEP Executive Director David Ibsen released a statement in response to Facebook's claims of removing more than one billion fake accounts and content exhibiting hate speech, terrorist propaganda child exploitation, that read in part: “Just the same as the claims Mr. Zuckerberg made months ago before both houses of the U.S. Congress that the company’s artificial intelligence algorithms remove 99 percent of ISIS and al Qaeda content online, Facebook is intent on garnering headlines in an effort to ‘delay, deny and deflect’ from its scandal of the day."

“Delay, Deny and Deflect.” Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal escalated this week after the New York Times chronicled the company’s two-faced approach towards its never-ending streams of crises. The extensive investigation, sourced by interviews with more than 50 people, shows how as Mr. Zuckerberg was on his much-ballyhooed public relations apology tour, COO Cheryl Sandberg worked behind the scenes to lambast executives willing to speak up concerning Facebook’s issues and discredit those who publicly opposed the company.

CEP hosted a roundtable in Paris on November 13 entitled "Secularism and prevention of radicalization" where it launched a practical handbook for French educators. Produced in collaboration with the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization (SG-CIPDR) and the European Foundation for Democracy (EFD), the guide aims to detect and react appropriately to sensitive situations without compromising their authority or theipedagogical or educational actions. France, like its European neighbors, is confronted with the problem of youth radicalization.

Members of the upcoming 116 th Congress have signaled that tech issues will be a major part of its upcoming agenda. U.S. Senator Mark Warner has stated that “the era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end,” and other top Democrats agreed, saying that tech companies’ “self-regulation hasn ’t worked.” Issues such as data privacy and antitrust questions are on the docket, but extremism online must stay at the forefront as well, especially as ISIS's loss of physical territory has made the fact that the terror group “continues to pump out terror content online” all the more important.

Even before ballots were counted, one outcome of the 2018 election was clear: Facebook had again neglected its duty to its new political ads system. Just weeks out from the election, VICE News tested Facebook’s touted “Paid For” disclosure – which mandates all ads relating to politics or an “issue of national importance” include a funding disclosure – only to find that it was able to successfully pose as and receive approval for ads on behalf of all 100 senators, Vice President Mike Pence and even ISIS , without question.

Ahmad Musa Jibril is a Michigan-based, Salafist preacher and online extremist popular with foreign fighters in Syria. In his online lectures, Jibril is careful to not specifically call for violence or endorse particular organizations, instead he offers a strict religious interpretation hostile to the West. Jibril has also previously sent his condolences to the family of a British ISIS member killed in Syria, as well as praised another British individual on Twitter who was killed while fighting with ISIS. Despite Jibril ’s popularity with foreign fighters in Syria, prior support for violence and indirect role in radicalizing one of the 2017 London Bridge attackers, his content can be found on a wide variety of websites and platforms.