Facebook, Twitter and Google face tech tax to fund fake news crackdown
Facebook, Twitter and Google face tech tax to fund fake
news crackdown
By Margi Murphy The Telegraph • July 27, 2018
Facebook, Twitter and Google are facing the threat of new
taxes to help fund a crackdown on a tide of fake news and misinformation which
is poisoning British democracy, according to MPs.
A damning report from the Digital Culture Media and Sport
Select Committee proposed that Facebook and other social media firms should pay
a levy to cover the costs of Britain’s data privacy watchdog, the Information
Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Damian Collins MP, Chair of the Committee, called for
urgent action to tackle the threat posed by fake news including the possibility
of social media being liable for the content posted online, possibly opening
them up to lawsuits from members of the general public who have been targeted
by hate speech.
He said: "We are facing nothing less than a crisis
in our democracy – based on the systematic manipulation of data to support the
relentless targeting of citizens, without their consent, by campaigns of
disinformation and messages of hate."
The report warned of "relentless targeting of
hyper-partisan views, which play to the fears and prejudices of people, in
order to influence their voting plans and their behaviour”.
A version was leaked today by Dominic Cummings, the
former Vote Leave campaign strategist, ahead of its official publication on
Sunday.
The ICO is currently investigating the Cambridge
Analytica scandal, in which 87m Facebook users had their personal data
collected without their consent and passed to the British election consultants
Cambridge Analytica.
A levy, understood to work similarly to the charges
imposed on financial services in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority, would
also cover the cost of introducing social media and data privacy protection
onto the national curriculum to improve pupils’ understanding of how social media
information may be used to manipulate them.
MPs also suggested that companies should no longer enjoy
the protection of being a grey area between "platform" and
"pubisher" but face liability for what is published on their
products, following in the footsteps of Germany, which has greater powers to
fine tech giants for offensive material like hate speech.
The warning is the latest crisis for Facebook. Mark
Zuckerberg faces pressure to abandon his dual role as chairman and chief
executive after $199bn was wiped off the social network’s value on Thursday,
the single biggest one-day loss of value for any company in US market history.
MPs on the DCMS committee have proposed a package of
measures designed to clamp down on Facebook in the UK and the “fake news that
threatens our democracy”. They include creating a new official category for
technology companies under which they are responsible and liable, to be
regulated by Ofcom like newspapers and broadcasters.
Investors in Facebook balked after a series of scandals
surrounding fake news, cyber bullying, terrorism recruitment and Zuckerberg’s
recent refusal to remove Holocaust denial from the platform.
Facebook has been forced to hire thousands of moderators
to curb the use of the platform to spread extremist content and has already
warned that the costs will continue to eat at its bottom line going forward.
However, the days of policing its own platform may be
over. MPs claimed that the current legal framework was “no longer fit for
purpose” and did not take into account the technology giants that have become
prevalent in Britons' day-to-day lives.
The report also suggested that the Competition and Market
Authority be tasked with auditing Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for fake
accounts or “bots”, which have been blamed for the rapid spread of fake news
ahead of the European referendum vote and the 2016 US presidential election.
It also said there should be a public register for
political advertising, requiring all political advertising work to be listed
for public display so that, even if work is not requiring regulation, it is
accountable and transparent for all to see.
A ban on micro-targeted political advertising to Facebook
"lookalike audiences", where users have requested not to receive
political adverts, should be imposed, it added.
"Our democracy is at risk and now is the time to act
to protect our shared values and the integrity of our democratic
institutions," the report stated.
The committee pointed to Facebook’s repeated refusals to
cooperate with its investigation into election meddling, advertising practices
and the spread of fake news “time after time” as an indicator of its
trustworthiness.
“Facebook and social media companies should not be in a
position of marking their own homework,” it stated.
The Government was urged to close a loophole post Brexit
that allowed social media companies or Cambridge Analytica-styled consultants
to process personal data of people from the UK in the US without ramifications
because it will not be covered by the General Data Protection Regulation.
Committee chair Damian Collins said: "In this
inquiry we have pulled back the curtain on the secretive world of the tech
giants, which have acted irresponsibly with the vast quantities of data they
collect from their users.
"Despite concerns being raised, companies like
Facebook made it easy for developers to scrape user data and to deploy it in
other campaigns without their knowledge or consent.
"Throughout our inquiry these companies have tried
to frustrate scrutiny and obfuscated in their answers. The light of
transparency must be allowed to shine on their operations and they must be made
responsible, and liable, for the way in which harmful and misleading content is
shared on their sites."
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