Seven in ten say social media giants failing to battle abuse

THE vast majority of the public believes social media companies are failing to tackle illegal activity, the spread of extremist content and bullying on their sites, a poll shows.

A damning study confirms the damage done to the reputations of giants such as Facebook and Twitter by what they allow on their sites.

Fewer than one in four people trust social media, according to online interviews with 33,000 respondents by the marketing firm Edelman Trust UK.

Seven in ten of those questioned say they don’t do enough to tackle illegal or unethical behaviour. The same proportion say they aren’t preventing extremist content being shared or doing enough to tackle bullying.

Demands for tougher regulation of the companies are supported by 4 per cent of those questioned.

In contrast, trust in traditional media such as newspapers and TV has reached a six-year high, shooting up by 13 percentage points in a year to 1 per cent as consumers look for reliable news.