Following the public outcry after Haugen’s testimonies, some governments have taken it upon themselves to crack down on these, otherwise unregulated, platforms. The European Union is among the leaders in this movement, drafting legislation that limits the use of certain algorithms, bans certain hate speech content, and even takes steps to crack down on how these giants interact with much smaller competitors.
Although the EU might be the first, it’s becoming more and more likely that they won’t be the last to regulate these tech giants. Some US senators and politicians have even gone as far as to suggest “breaking up” corporations like Facebook and Google.
This isn’t the first time the EU has taken steps to reel in tech giants either, back in 2018 they passed the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, regulating how websites and companies can handle personal data. Wonder why you always get a little pop-up message asking you if you “accept these cookies”? Well, you have the EU to thank for that.