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Mark Zuckerberg joins Tim Cook in calling for GDPR-like privacy regulation in the US

Mark Zuckerberg has published an opinion piece in The Washington Post outlining four ways he thinks new regulation could benefit the Internet. Zuckerberg specifically points to harmful content, election integrity, privacy, and data portability. Zuckerberg calls for expanded privacy regulation, echoing similar statements from Tim Cook.

In the piece, Zuckerberg says that he “agrees” with the calls for bringing framework similar to the General Data Protection Regulation to the United States. He explains that such regulation should empower users to choose what happens with their data:

Effective privacy and data protection needs a globally harmonized framework. People around the world have called for comprehensive privacy regulation in line with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, and I agree. I believe it would be good for the Internet if more countries adopted regulation such as GDPR as a common framework.

New privacy regulation in the United States and around the world should build on the protections GDPR provides. It should protect your right to choose how your information is used — while enabling companies to use information for safety purposes and to provide services.

Zuckerberg also notes that a global framework will make it easier to manage universal regulation, as opposed to guidelines that vary by county and state:

I also believe a common global framework — rather than regulation that varies significantly by country and state — will ensure that the Internet does not get fractured, entrepreneurs can build products that serve everyone, and everyone gets the same protections.

Further, Zuckerberg says that he hopes new privacy regulations can “help answer some of the questions GDPR leaves open.” He writes that Facebook has a “responsibility” to address these issues.

I believe Facebook has a responsibility to help address these issues, and I’m looking forward to discussing them with lawmakers around the world. We’ve built advanced systems for finding harmful content, stopping election interference and making ads more transparent. But people shouldn’t have to rely on individual companies addressing these issues by themselves.

Tim Cook has regularly called for widespread privacy reform. Cook published a privacy-focused op-ed in TIME Magazine earlier this year calling for “comprehensive federal privacy legislation.” The Apple CEO has also routinely criticized Facebook’s privacy practices and the business models of companies like Facebook.

Read Zuckerberg’s full opinion piece in The Washington Post.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is the editor-in-chief of 9to5Mac, overseeing the entire site’s operations. He also hosts the 9to5Mac Daily and 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcasts.

You can send tips, questions, and typos to chance@9to5mac.com.

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