Israel’s Minister of Communications Yoaz Hendel met with executives from major online companies and legislators in New York and Washington to discuss support for the regulation of social networks, Globes reported.
His meetings last week with senior managers of Facebook, Google, Cisco, Netflix and other companies were held as part of Hendel’s preparations to launch a committee in Israel that will focus on the same issue.
During his meeting with U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, he discussed the need for cooperation between regulators to effectively regulate social networks.
He also met with Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan and U.N. General Secretary António Guterres. The Israeli minister agreed that Israel will work with a U.N. committee that will examine the need for regulation of social networks, as well as incitement and fake news.
Minister of Justice Gideon Sa’ar recently announced a new committee on law and technology that will also cover incitement on social networks. Hendel’s committee, which will report to Sa’ar’s committee, will focus on transparency and the responsibility of the social networks, such as creating customer service centers.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who heads the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security, will appear before Hendel’s committee.