Zuckerberg 'optimistic' on regulation after Macron meeting

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on Friday said he was "encouraged" and "optimistic" about the regulatory framework being suggested by France for the social media giant and other online platforms, after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The meeting followed the drawing up of a report by experts and top French civil servants proposing that each member state of the European Union set up its own regulatory authority to police social networks.

The report commissioned by the French government - for which the experts were given unprecedented access by social networks - slammed the online firms' efforts to self-regulate and their "lack of credibility".

Zuckerberg met Macron at the Elysee Palace amid pressure to crack down on the spread of disinformation as well as a call from a co-founder of Facebook for the California-based giant to be broken up.

"I am encouraged and optimistic about the regulatory framework that will be put in place," Zuckerberg said after leaving the meeting.

"Overall I think in order for people to trust the internet... there needs to be the right regulation put in place," he said.

The report called "Creating a French Response to Make Social Media Responsible" has been submitted to France's digital ministry.

It acknowledged the huge freedoms offered by social media in the modern world, but said that "the capacities offered by social media provoke unacceptable abuses of these liberties." "These abuses by individuals or groups have not yet received a satisfactory response from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Snap, to name but some," it said.

"Hopefully this can become a model and not just a national model for France but can be worked into... a framework across the EU overall," Zuckerberg added.

"I am very optimistic and grateful for the partnership and experimentation and the seriousness and diligence that the government put in this," he said.

The report said that the response by big social media groups like Facebook to abuses and disinformation too often came after the fact and when damage was already done.

"(Self-regulation) lacks credibility," it concluded, adding that the lack of transparency "arouses suspicion over the reality of the action by the platforms."