Conor Sen, Columnist

Facebook Marks the End of Social Media's Wild West

A voluntary disclosure to Congress? This is how it starts.

September 22, 2017 at 6:01 PM UTC

By Conor Sen

Conor Sen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is founder of Peachtree Creek Investments.

A sheriff's coming to town.
Source: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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The news that Facebook will turn over details of Russian ad buys to Congress recalls a column written by my colleague Eli Lake early year. He wrote that in forcing National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to resign, President Donald Trump "caved in to his political and bureaucratic opposition." That February column warned: "Flynn is only the appetizer. Trump is the entree." In the case of Facebook Inc., the 3,000 advertisement buys turned over to Congress are indeed the appetizer. Regulation carrying the force of law is the inevitable entree.

It was only 16 months ago when reports surfaced that Facebook employees were removing stories of interest to conservative users from its trending news section. Facebook responded by automating the section, removing humans from the editorial process. Thus began Facebook's uneasy journey into self-regulation.