There is little doubt that some form of social media regulation is on the way, following the series of Facebook scandals. We don’t know yet what this will look like, but at least the regulations are most likely to be transparent and consistent, which Facebook’s own approach doesn’t appear to be at the moment.

Any new regulation will need to balance the right to free speach, which is enshrined in America’s first amendment, with the need to restrict harmful or misleading content (including Fake News). Some people anticipate that a further requirement will be that the source of material will be need to be made more transparent as well as the funding source (especially for political advertising), but whatever regulations we do end up with will provide a consistent and clear platform for all to work from – rather than what appears to be erratic and inconsistent policies being employed by Facebook right now.