In the aftermath of the US presidential elections, People are becoming increasingly aware of the real power of online platforms. Lots of articles are written about two disturbing trends in our democracies: the uncontrolled spread of fake news on social platforms and the danger of “filter bubbles” generated by the algorithms which personalize the content they feed us.
Nowadays social platforms such as Facebook or Twitter have become crucial players of the media environment. Indeed, the recent events made it clear that a large part of the citizens get their news on these platforms. And with great power comes great responsibility. How should platforms answer criticisms that they failed to address the false news problem or that their algorithms distort the way we see the world by hiding opposing viewpoints? Trust being at the core of the digital economy, will they succeed to adapt their models to the societal demand?
Or, with not only our economy but also our democracy being at stake, is there a need to regulate Internet giants?
All these questions are currently under close scrutiny: from the platforms themselves (1) but also from the civil society, in the US (2), and in Europe (3). I recently published an article in a French specialized Journal on how to regulate Internet giants and I would like to share it on a broader scale. I hope this paper, from a regulator perspective, will contribute to this very important societal and political debate.