Minister tells them: Take responsibility

TECHNOLOGY companies must show a ‘duty of care’ to their users and take more ‘responsibility’ for cyberbullying, extremism and web addiction, a minister has said.

Science minister Sam Gyimah said that while he ‘welcomes innovation’ from social media giants, this must come hand-in-hand with a social conscience.

His words come amid increasing concerns about young children accessing inappropriate material online and being relentlessly pursued by bullies. Web giants have also come under fire for failing to take down videos which glorify terrorism.

Mr Gyimah said tech companies needed to take on the same corporate responsibilities as more traditional firms. Speaking at the University of Buckingham Festival of Higher Education, he said: ‘When you look at oil companies, gas companies, over time we have recognised that these big companies have big responsibilities.

‘Social media companies have now come of age and while we want technology to flourish ... we want to see them exercising that kind of responsibility.’

He said anxiety created by social media may be contributing to some mental health problems in children and young adults.

And he added that there is ‘no reason why’ a system to deal with cyber bullying and extremism cannot ‘evolve’.