Fake news a threat to social media

"For these super-giant companies, it's got very serious now ... They have enjoyed this ability to use our data, our content, our innovation, to create huge businesses, and we have given them a shield from a lot of the risks. Essentially, we made them. Is this the year we begin unmaking them?"

Damian Tambini, London School of Economics

BRITAIN: Social media giants could be ordered to ‘‘open up or break up’’ as concerns over the impact of fake news come to a head, academics believe.

‘‘It may well be that this is the beginning of the end for these firms,’’ said Dr Damian Tambini, director of the London School of Economics’ (LSE) media policy project.

He said that the days of companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Google being able to shift public opinion, while remaining free of the liabilities of publishers, could be numbered as they came under greater political scrutiny.

British MPs have demanded that Facebook and Twitter provide details of Russian activity around the Brexit referendum.

The companies have already admitted to the United States Congress that Kremlin-backed trolls flooded their platforms with false pro-Donald Trump stories that were seen by hundreds of millions of Americans during the US election campaign last year.

In addition to fake news, politicians in Britain, the US and Europe are looking closely at technology companies’ failure to remove hate speech and terrorist content from their platforms, alleged abuses of market dominance, and controversial tax arrangements.

British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron have said they would be willing to fine companies if they fail to reform.

‘‘For these super-giant companies, it’s got very serious now. They have to face up to the fact they’re coming up against existential problems in liberal democracies,’’ Tambini said.

‘‘They should clarify the principles behind how their algorithms rank news, because when they tweak them, they effectively become something between an editor and a censor – particularly given their monopoly position.

‘‘They have enjoyed this ability to use our data, our content, our innovation, to create huge businesses, and we have given them a shield from a lot of the risks. Essentially, we made them. Is this the year we begin unmaking them?’’

Facebook and Twitter were criticised this month for their replies to a parliamentary investigation into fake news and allegations of Russian interference in British politics.

Damian Collins, chairman of the House of Commons culture select committee, dismissed Twitter’s response as ‘‘completely inadequate’’ and accused Facebook of doing virtually ‘‘no work’’ to help the MPs’ investigation.

Charlie Beckett, director of the LSE’s Truth, Trust and Technology commission, compared fake news and the proliferation of worthless information with air pollution.

‘‘You can either ban all cars because that solves the problem, or you try to make the cars cleaner and regulate traffic,’’ he said.

Facebook, Google and Twitter say that they take the problem of fake news seriously and have invested in a series of initiatives to tackle it. The companies say they are using artificial intelligence and hiring more moderators to identify and remove dangerous content.