Mark Zuckerberg says he is worried about China’s influence on internet regulations

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sounded alarms against China’s influence on internet regulations.

The Facebook executive in an hour-long conversation with the European Union‘s official Thierry Breton said that he was worried that countries across the world would replicate Chinese model for regulating internet services.

“What I worry about is, right now I think there are emerging two very different frameworks underpinned by very different sets of values,” Zuckerberg said in a live streamed discussion with EU official, CNBC reported.

“Just to be blunt about it, I think there is a model coming out of countries like China that tend to have very different values than Western countries that are more democratic,” he added.

The Facebook founder in his discussion also emphasised on the fact that “the best antidote” to a regulations framework coming from China would be the one coming from “western democratic countries”.

“I worry about that kind of model spreading to other countries...And I think that the best antidote to that is having a clear framework that comes out of Western democratic countries and that can become a standard around the world,” Zuckerberg said.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that the Facebook CEO has raised his concerns about China’s censorship. Last year, while giving a speech at the Georgetown University Zuckerberg attacked China’s app for their censorship.

"We’re increasingly seeing laws and regulations around the world that undermine free expression and people’s human rights. These local laws are each individually troubling, especially when they shut down speech in places where there isn’t democracy or freedom of the press...While our services, like WhatsApp, are used by protesters and activists everywhere due to strong encryption and privacy protections, on TikTok, the Chinese app growing quickly around the world, mentions of these protests are censored, even in the US," he had said.

Apart from talking about internet censorship, Zuckerberg also talked about the need for regulating the internet. He also praised the EU's GDPR that changes the way companies like Facebook and Google collect data.

“I don’t think that there’s a question that there’s going to be regulation. I think the question is, whose framework is going to win around the world?,” he added.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sounded alarms against China’s influence on internet regulations.

The Facebook executive in an hour-long conversation with the European Union‘s official Thierry Breton said that he was worried that countries across the world would replicate Chinese model for regulating internet services.

“What I worry about is, right now I think there are emerging two very different frameworks underpinned by very different sets of values,” Zuckerberg said in a live streamed discussion with EU official, CNBC reported.

“Just to be blunt about it, I think there is a model coming out of countries like China that tend to have very different values than Western countries that are more democratic,” he added.

The Facebook founder in his discussion also emphasised on the fact that “the best antidote” to a regulations framework coming from China would be the one coming from “western democratic countries”.

“I worry about that kind of model spreading to other countries...And I think that the best antidote to that is having a clear framework that comes out of Western democratic countries and that can become a standard around the world,” Zuckerberg said.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that the Facebook CEO has raised his concerns about China’s censorship. Last year, while giving a speech at the Georgetown University Zuckerberg attacked China’s app for their censorship.

"We’re increasingly seeing laws and regulations around the world that undermine free expression and people’s human rights. These local laws are each individually troubling, especially when they shut down speech in places where there isn’t democracy or freedom of the press...While our services, like WhatsApp, are used by protesters and activists everywhere due to strong encryption and privacy protections, on TikTok, the Chinese app growing quickly around the world, mentions of these protests are censored, even in the US," he had said.

Apart from talking about internet censorship, Zuckerberg also talked about the need for regulating the internet. He also praised the EU's GDPR that changes the way companies like Facebook and Google collect data.

“I don’t think that there’s a question that there’s going to be regulation. I think the question is, whose framework is going to win around the world?,” he added.