FACEBOOK boss Mark Zuckerberg has admitted his firm needs to do more to combat terrorism, hate speech and online bullying. The 34-year-old tech tsar was grilled by MEPs in Brussels, who told him that he had lost control over his firm’s social media empire. Zuckerberg also acknowledged the social media giant faced an “arms race” in efforts to prevent the platform being used to interfere in elections. MEPs lined up to criticise Zuckerberg, with one questioning whether he had created a “digital monster”. In his opening statement, he again acknowledged Facebook had not done enough to prevent the spread of fake news, foreign interference in elections and the misuse of personal information. “We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility,” he said. “That was a mistake and I am sorry for it. It is going to take time to work through all the changes that we need to make here but I am committed to getting this right.” Zuckerberg was also asked if he’d cooperate with European antitrust authorities to see if his company has a web monopoly. The move would see Facebook forced to split off its messaging apps Messenger and WhatsApp (which together boast over 2.5 billion users), leaving it with just Instagram, suggested MEP Guy Verhofstadt. “Could you or would you cooperate with the European antitrust authorities … and to open your books to see, yes or no, if there is a monopoly?,” said Verhofstadt, who heads the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. “I really think we… [Read full story]
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