Regulate, break up, open up: how to fix Facebook in 2022

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This year the public saw an alarming side of Facebook, after a huge leak of internal documents revealed the extent of vaccine misinformation and extremism on the platform, a two-tier system of who gets to break the rules, and the toxic effects of Instagram for teens.

Digital rights activists around the world have warned about these issues for years, but with the company facing mounting pressure, next year could provide an unprecedented opportunity for action.

We spoke to researchers, activists, and tech experts about how Facebook can be reined in 2022 and beyond, and the innovative solutions that could bring about change.

In the US, the path towards regulation is likely to be a long one. But this year has seen rare bipartisan calls to tighten the rules on big tech.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects Facebook from lawsuits if users post anything illegal, has once again come under scrutiny. Rashad Robinson, president of the civil rights group Color of Change, who led a corporate boycott of Facebook in July 2020, says amending it is a critical first step.

In Europe, 2022 will see a final decision by the European court of justice (ECJ) in a German online gaming case that could pave the way for Facebook to face legal ramifications for privacy violations.

Second, Stoller proposes bringing criminal charges against Zuckerberg and his leadership team over allegations of fraud and insider trading. (Facebook has rejected those claims.)

When Facebook promised to collaborate on a research initiative with academics after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, there were hopes it would shed light on how Facebook affects society. Instead, researchers were met with flawed and incomplete data, with only a handful of scholars granted access.