The French government is to “embed” a team of regulators inside Facebook to work out how best to tackle online hate speech, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday, November 12.
The new pilot program, which will see Facebook “host a delegation of French regulators” for six months in order to come up with a set of “concrete, tailored proposals to fight hate speech,” was announced by Macron at the opening ceremony of the annual Internet Goverance Forum held in Paris.
The move follows a meeting with Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg in May, when Macron invited the CEOs of some of the biggest tech firms to Paris, telling them they should work for the common good.
The French officials will travel to Facebook’s European headquarters in Dublin in January and the global base in Menlo Park, California if necessary, the company announced.
“The best way to ensure that any regulation is smart and works for people is by governments, regulators and businesses working together to learn from each other and explore ideas,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s head of global affairs, said in a statement.
