Facebook not against countries regulating social media – Official

Facebook Southern African Development Community, on Friday, said it was not against the regulation of social media platforms by governments in different countries.

Emilar Gandhi, Head of Public Policy, Southern African Development Community, said this during a Facebook Content Workshop in Nairobi, Kenya.

She noted that everyone, including the government, had a role to play, and that there was the need to identify core stakeholders in order to collaborate with them, adding that Facebook was not anti-regulation.

“Regulation is very important and should be pro-innovation, and private sector should also play a role in that space.

“Aside being regulated by the government, it’s not a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer; there should also be self-regulation.

“Third party fact-checking is also very important; we are taking steps to tackle false news on Facebook. It is a responsibility we take seriously.

“It is important to know that misinformation is a problem and that is why third party fact-checking is very important,” Gandhi said.

She also said that the social media and the traditional media should work together, noting that they both had roles to play in the society.

Gandhi, however, added that Africa had amazing talents in the continent, adding that that was why Facebook was doing everything in its power to improve internet access in African countries.

Also speaking, Kezia Anim-Addo, Head of Communications, Sub-Saharan Africa, said that Facebook would be investing in machine learning in order to improve on content reviews and response in languages.

She said that the organisation would also collaborate with Google and Microsoft to organise online safety programmes with a view to educating users.