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On Monday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sat down with EU officials in Brussels to discuss upcoming plans for legislation surrounding the moderation of online content, according to the Financial Times.

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The EU reportedly rejected Facebook's vision of the responsibility internet companies should have for moderating content on their platforms. Facebook argued that internet companies should not be held liable if harmful content is found on their platform, but should only be held liable for failing to create a system to combat such content.

It also argued that internet companies should be given flexibility in order to experiment with content moderation technology, a likely reference to the AI tools Facebook uses to flag and block harmful content. According to comments from French Commissioner Thierry Breton, the EU seems likely to adopt a more aggressive stance than what Facebook outlined: "It's [Facebook's plan] not enough. It's too slow, it's too low in terms of responsibility and regulation."

The EU's rejection of Facebook's proposal provides strong evidence for the direction government policy will be heading in 2020. Assuming the comments made by the French commissioner are indicative of the attitudes of other policy-makers in the EU, internet platforms will soon be facing more stringent legislation around their responsibility for online content.

For open platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, and Twitter — all of which have faced criticism for failing to remove harmful content like violent shootings and medical misinformation within the last year — this could become a source of financial strain as they will have to accommodate a new set of legal requirements. And with more aggressive rules will likely come more aggressive enforcement, which could mean more frequent or larger fines for platforms that run afoul of new content standards.

The new legislation regarding responsibility for online content is expected to be included in the forthcoming Digital Services Act, the details of which are to be released later this year. However, EU commissioners are expected to introduce a policy proposal related to artificial intelligence and data sharing practices within the EU today, and that could shed light on some specific, related changes.

While a higher degree of responsibility around content moderation might be a burden on social media companies themselves, it will likely have a neutral or even positive effect on brands. Platforms like YouTube and Facebook, which make almost all of their revenues from advertising, have a direct incentive to not let a tightened budget limit their ability to attract ad placements and will likely not decrease investment in their ad business.

Regardless, advertisers seem likely to benefit in at least one way from additional government pressure around content moderation: More stringent rules around harmful content could alleviate some of the concerns brands have that their ads might be placed in unwanted contexts — whether that means near fake news or violent videos — something that was of major concern to brands advertising with YouTube last year, for instance.

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