• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, April 1, 2019

Mark Zuckerberg is calling on governments around the world to consider stricter Internet regulations.

“By updating the rules for the internet, we can preserve what’s best about it -- the freedom for people to express themselves and for entrepreneurs to build new things -- while also protecting society from broader harms,” Facebook’s cofounder/CEO proposes in a new post.

Published in The Washington Post’s Opinion section over the weekend, Zuckerberg's post says regulation is needed in four areas: harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability.

Zuckerberg admits Facebook has been too powerful in some respects.

“Lawmakers often tell me we have too much power over speech, and frankly I agree,” according to Zuckerberg. “I’ve come to believe we shouldn’t make so many important decisions about speech on our own.”

The mogul also said the industry needs a more standardized approach for dealing with bad actors.

“One idea is for third-party bodies to set standards governing the distribution of harmful content and measure companies against those standards,” he suggested.

“Regulation could set baselines for what’s prohibited and require companies to build systems for keeping harmful content to a bare minimum.”

Yet, any such regulations should not be limited to a single country, according to Zuckerberg.

Instead, he is proposing a “common global framework … rather than regulation that varies significantly by country and state.”

Regardless of Zuckerberg’s thoughts on the matter, industry regulation is looking increasingly likely.

The Federal Trade Commission just launched a new task force to expose anti-competitive conduct among top technology companies.

U.K. policymakers recently called on the Competitions and Market Authority (CMA) to conduct a comprehensive audit of the social-media ad marketplace — and Facebook in particular.

Earlier in the year, antitrust regulators in Germany characterized Facebook as a monopoly and ordered the company to change the way it tracks users across digital channels.