OTTAWA — Tech giants will be in the hot seat this week as politicians from Canada and 10 other countries gather to consider how best to protect citizens’ privacy and their democracies in the age of social media.
Committee members will also grill representatives from a host of internet giants — Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft, Amazon and Mozilla — on what they’re doing, or not doing, to prevent abuse. “Ultimately, we’re looking for best practices and the only way we learn what other countries are doing … is if we actually have face-to-face conversations,” Conservative MP Bob Zimmer, chair of the Commons committee, said in an interview.
The United States, where concern about censoring free expression tends to trump concerns about privacy, fake news and electoral mischief, is notably not taking part. But Zimmer said that doesn’t limit the potential power of the international grand committee . Technology is something we want to see advance but I think as regulators we need to make sure it's not going too far in terms of privacy breaches and snooping in our back yards
The presidential election also shone a spotlight on the use of social media by foreign and domestic bad actors to spread disinformation, exacerbate societal divisions and impact the election outcome.
can Edward Snowden attend!