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YouTube is Preparing for Battle Against Regulators
Susan Wojcicki’s latest blog to creators is a thinly-veiled attempt to frame the narrative ahead of a battle with politicians across the globe
Five months ago, nearly to the day, Mark Zuckerberg wrote a blog. The blog, which came a couple of weeks before the Facebook founder testified in front of Congress, was a pretty blatant attempt to reframe the narrative ahead of regulation from politicians.
“I believe we need a more active role for governments and regulators,” Zuckerberg wrote. “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.”
Read deeper into Zuckerberg’s blog, though, and you realize that actually what he wanted was a more active role for governments and regulators — but on his terms. (Why else would a billionaire say “The rules governing the Internet allowed a generation of entrepreneurs to build services that changed the world and created a lot of value in people’s lives. It’s time to update these rules to define clear responsibilities for people, companies and governments going forward”?)