Tech Companies Should Regulate Themselves

Earlier this month, Mark Zuckerberg faced intense scrutiny before Congress over the manipulation of Facebook Inc.’s user data by malicious third parties. Zuckerberg issued a broad mea culpa and promised to make changes. But given the growing public backlash over how social-media companies handle personal information, that probably won’t be enough. The question now is not whether there will be new regulation, but what kind it will be.

As former officials at the U.S. Treasury Department, we worked diligently to secure the financial system after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The mechanisms we helped develop point to ways to safeguard the tech industry from similar threats. At Treasury, we used to say that financial institutions were on the front lines of combating illicit finance. Why should it be any different with social-media networks? Instead of waiting on government edicts, embattled tech leaders should start embracing self-regulation.