Mr. Marc Rotenberg:

I can speak to our position in the United States. By tradition, we regulated political advertisements. We required people in print and broadcast media to identify the source of their advertising. Facebook quite brazenly claimed it was unnecessary for Internet companies to be bound by the same obligations that apply to print and broadcast media. It removed itself from what traditional journalists and news organisations were required to do. I believe this accelerated the trend towards fake news and disinformation. My view at this point is that the time has long since passed for Facebook to come before this committee to say what type of regulation it thinks it will find acceptable. There is enough reason now to say this is one place where we no longer need political advertising, which is a source of significant revenue. It could help to support independent media, which needs the support.