The discussion between Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton and Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg on the evening of Monday 18 May seemed cordial. But both men tried to push their vision of the Internet of the future and future European regulations, including the Digital Services Act.
During the discussion, the Facebook boss highlighted the changes implemented by his company, explaining that today 80% of illegal content was removed before the company received notification “compared with barely 15% a few years ago”. He also presented the new independent oversight board set up by the company to decide what content to withdraw. He also emphasised European collaboration during the Covid-19 crisis, particularly in relation to disinformation.
Digital Services Act
When discussing the Digital Services Act, Zuckerberg reiterated his desire to see the emergence of European legislation, in contrast to the anti-democratic situation in China. Commissioner Breton highlighted the fact that he was currently working on producing ex ante rules, as in the telecommunications sector.
The Commissioner took a tough line on a number of occasions. In particular, he reminded the Facebook boss that his role also comes with responsibilities. “I don't want to give advice of any kind, but nevertheless, when you're the boss of a large platform, you have to manage a lot of things, a lot of stakeholders. But in the end, it’s always the CEO who takes responsibility. Mark will take responsibility, and no one else”, Breton emphasised, noting that he, too, was a CEO. He also said “I think it’s very important to anticipate what could, in quotation marks, produce an adverse reaction that would force us to regulate”, and asked Zuckerberg to respect European values. He concluded with the example of tax evasion.
Data portability between different departments
The von der Leyen Commission has set itself the goal of creating a European data space, and Facebook's CEO said he wasn’t opposed to portability. “No one's really against it. But how do you define your data?”, he said, taking the example of birthdays on Facebook. He believes a balance has to be struck between “openness and confidentiality”.
And, on the subject of the ‘data transfer’ project launched by Google and involving Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and Apple, Mark Zuckerberg suggested that he was not opposed to the involvement of smaller European partners. “That’s what should happen”, he said. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)