Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has surprised investment markets by calling for more regulation for his business and other tech companies. Zuckerberg published comments in a Financial Times opinion piece over the weekend, outlining why social media platforms need to be closely monitored, and what the environment should look like.

While he believes that regulation would hurt Facebook’s business model in the short term, it could ultimately be better for the company and the users of its platform.

Why Does the Biggest Social Media Figure Want More Government Oversight?

Zuckerberg has called for open and transparent regulation that would make social media companies more accountable for their standards and technologies. He wrote in his opinion article that “These are problems that need to be fixed and that affect our industry as a whole. If we don’t create standards that people feel are legitimate, they won’t trust institutions or technology.”

The CEO has a point. Facebook was the center of a major data breach scandal in 2018, which eroded trust in the company and led to huge stock losses. The company has since recovered and improved its revenue and profits. It also promised to become more transparent and improve its data handling measures.

By increasing government regulation, other companies would be forced to comply with high privacy and advertising standards. However, Zuckerberg warns that any regulations should be carefully developed to prevent the stifling of smaller tech companies and startups. He argues that larger companies, like the one he founded, will be better able to comply with regulations, while smaller players could find the cost and complexity to be a barrier.

Zuckerberg recommends that social media be placed somewhere between traditional media advertisers and telecommunications companies. He noted that media companies are responsible for the information that they publish, while telcos are not responsible for all data that passes through their networks.

Social media is a relatively new development in the tech world and is a combination of both a publisher and a utility service. Zuckerberg believes that regulation should reflect this.

Should Regulation be the Responsibility of Governments?

Zuckerberg’s comments are surprising, especially when companies like Facebook could self-regulate to avoid distrust. However, it’s likely that the CEO wants government regulations so that all of Facebook’s competitors are working on a level playing field.

There are politicians in the United States that have similar thoughts to Zuckerberg. It will be interesting to see what role regulation plays in the evolution of social media and whether any future laws will have an impact on Facebook’s bottom line.