Developing policy at Facebook?

If we regulate to protect privacy, do we risk competition? If we regulate to strengthen competition, do we risk innovation? If we regulate to exclude harmful content, do we risk free speech?

Over-simplified perhaps, but these are in essence some of the hard questions in tech policy right now, and grappling with such questions from within a tech company must be one of the most challenging jobs there is.

In this episode we are joined by Matt Perault, former head of global policy development at Facebook. Matt has looked the challenges squarely in the eye and shares with us how the social network giant has been dealing with them, together with his thoughts on how interactions between stakeholders can affect policy outcomes, for better or worse. It’s a rich and wide ranging conversation that you won’t want to miss. 

Matt has now taken on the role as Director of a Center for Science and Technology Policy at Duke University. The Center will act as an interdisciplinary hub for science and technology policy research and bring together stakeholders from the tech industry, government and academia to exchange insights and perspectives on policy development.

Here are some of items on which we touched in the episode: Mark Zuckerberg’s recent speech at Georgetown University, Facebook’s Statement on a Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking and its White Paper on Data Portability.

You can read a recent Opinion piece by Matt in the New York Times here.  His Center is launching a podcast on tech policy, TechKnowledgey, so be sure to take a listen.

Featuring regular cut-through interviews with leading thinkers, movers and shakers, Competition Lore is a podcast series that engages us all in a debate about the transformative potential and risks of digitalised competition.

Join Caron Beaton-Wells, Professor in Competition Law at the University of Melbourne, to tackle what it means to participate as a competitor, consumer or citizen in a digital economy and society.

Competition Lore is produced by Written & Recorded.

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