Zuckerberg wants more regulation\, here\'s why:

It's not often companies call for regulation on their own industry, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg did just that.

In a Washington Post opinion piece over the weekend, Zuckerberg said regulators should play a more active role in establishing rules that govern the internet.

So what's really going on here?

Reuters BreakingViews colunmist Jennifer Saba.

SOUNDBITE: REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS COLUMNIST, JENNIFER SABA, saying: "I would be completely skeptical about anything that Mark Zuckerberg is writing right now.

I mean part of what he's advocating is to have an international law or rules kind of governing social media spaces like Facebook and Google.

And you know it kind of makes sense on one hand because one rule is easier for a bunch of companies to follow, and you don't have to comply with a bunch of different regulations.

But the issue is he's basically putting the onus on governments now to clean up a big mess that he made." Facebook has been blamed for allowing divisive content and disinformation to spread on its platform in the run-up to the 20-16 U.S. presidential election.

Regulation could provide social media companies in the U.S. some cover as they set out to block more and more content.

Zuckerberg's opinion piece also comes amid reports that the U.S. Government and facebook are negotiating a multibillion-dollar fine to settle issues with the social media giant's privacy lapses.

SOUNDBITE: REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS COLUMNIST, JENNIFER SABA, saying: "Let's be honest Democrats and Republicans have been floating out different policies on how to regulate Facebook.

I mean this is the one company that's bringing both these parties together.

So he's under a lot of fire right now.

And you know for him it's like how would Facebook drive the conversation because the regulation is coming." Already, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren is vowing to (NAT UP) "Break those things apart" if she's elected president and there's been increasing urgency to find a way to hold the tech companies more responsible for their breaches.

While some countries like Germany have enacted laws on social media content, in the U.S. there's so far no law that directly regulates the core products of social media companies.

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