Tackle online giants

CHILDREN addicted to internet gambling… paedophiles exchanging perverted fantasies, which Twitter refuses to block… terrorist training videos left online for months… hatefilled trolling of parliamentary candidates, directed overwhelmingly at Tories…

How much longer can unregulated websites and social media giants such as Facebook – accused by one of its own former executives of ‘ripping apart the fabric of how our society works’ – be allowed to operate above the law?

Yes, the internet has brought many benefits to mankind – along with massive rewards to the handful of arrogant, tax-dodging multinationals that control its most popular sites. But ways can and must be found to hold internet giants accountable for the filth, corruption, hatred and lies from which they profit.

With their vast resources and technological know-how, they have the means to police the material they spread. The sooner they are forced to do so, the cleaner, safer and fairer our democracy and society will be.

AT Westminster today, unelected Peers plan a devastating assault on Press freedom, which would seriously hamper investigative journalism.

In a series of underhand attempts to hijack the Data Protection Bill, proposed amendments would curtail or crush reporters’ right to gather information on suspected wrongdoers. Another seeks to coerce newspapers into accepting state-backed regulation, ending 300 years of freedom from Whitehall interference.

The Mail urges Peers to reject this charter for crooks by crooks. If they don’t, MPs should strike out the amendments – and uphold the people’s right to know.