European Union seeks to regulate the internet and social networks

The regulation of social networks and the internet is not something new, for a long time, rulers and legislators from all over the world have been considering this possibility. It is a fairly complex issue, since the majority of users around the world defend that the Internet should be a free space with freedom of expression.

Of course, this has not stopped countries and organizations in their quest to control what happens on the network. We saw a sample of this in the recent agreement reached by the European Union to be able to control and regulate the use of the internet and social networks.

What does this agreement seek to regulate?

From what has been known, this new law seeks, in some way, to combat hate speech and disinformation campaigns. That is, the large digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, etc., you will have to eliminate all illegal content or content that is considered dangerous on the network.

In this way, these large social networks will have to have greater control over users. They will be obliged by law to erase everything that in the same law appears as "illegal".

As the commission has commented, this seeks to put an end, once and for all, to abuses on social networks. In fact, mention was made of a case in which a teacher was murdered after a constant hate campaign.

Social networks will have to improve their algorithms so that they can immediately detect the publication of this type of content. This way, it can be removed in a timely manner.

Additionally, the law has another scope and this affects websites, specifically those of electronic commerce in which data on providers and users is collected. In this way, more controls are added in relation to this issue, which adds more pressure in the sector.

Large companies must assess the risks related to the provision of the service

Big tech companies like TikTok, Booking, Twitter, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, etc. They will have to abide by the regulations. This indicates that they must evaluate the risks during the provision of their services, in addition to removing all problematic content.

All these companies will be subject to a frequent audit, these will be carried out by independent organizations. In this way, the European Commission makes sure that companies comply.

The text also states that fines of up to 6% of annual sales could be applied in case of infringement.

Could this be the beginning of a much more regulated network?

This is not the first time that legal means have been tried to regulate the internet and social networks. Countries like China have this type of regulation, so there is already a precedent.

Unfortunately, the problem is so much more serious that it probably cannot be solved through regulation. Controlling the entire internet is impossible and this will only make people look for other types of alternatives.

However, the result may be worrying for Internet users and those who defend a free Internet. This may be the first step for us to see a much more controlled and regulated network.

In any case, it is difficult to predict what the final result of all this will be and what are the next steps that official bodies will take.