Pablo Rodriguez is seen as a steady hand with keen political instincts. He’ll need them if the government intends to move forward with controversial plans to regulate social media.

Tech giants will be in the hot seat this week as politicians from Canada and 10 other countries gather to consider how best to protect citizens' privacy and their democracies in the age of big data.

Governments across the world are wrestling over how to better control content on social media platforms, often blamed for encouraging abuse, the spread of online pornography, and for influencing or manipulating voters.