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DIGITAL FREEDOM CTTEE TURNS TO FACEBOOK REGIONAL HEAD OVER ISSUE OF TRANSPARENCY, NEUTRALITY

 

The justice ministry’s digital freedom committee aimed at improving the transparency of tech firms has penned a letter to the regional director of Facebook asking whether the company’s supervisory board complied with the requirements of political neutrality and transparency in its procedures, Justice Minister Judit Varga said. In a Facebook entry, the minister noted that the social media giant recently set up a supervisory board “which according to press reports deals with the review and removal of online content”. Varga said it was important to clarify whether the board complied with the requirements of transparency and political neutrality in its procedures as well as the body’s relationships with national courts with the power to settle legal disputes.
She also said the committee has finished putting together an online guide on how the most popular digital platforms in Hungary handle their users’ data. The dozens of complaints the committee has received concerning the “censorship” imposed by the various online platforms and the lack of transparency in how they operate demonstrates the effectiveness of the body’s work, Varga said.