Facebook ‘threat to democracy’

NEW laws may be needed to control web giants such as Facebook to protect democracy, an ex-GCHQ head has suggested.

Robert Hannigan was speaking after a Commons committee published files that appeared to show Facebook offering deals to developers to gain special access to data on users’ friends.

Asked if the social network was a threat to democracy, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today: ‘Potentially yes, I think it is, if it isn’t controlled and regulated.’

He said web giants – which had greater incentive to profit from data than protect privacy – could not reform themselves and ‘it will have to come from outside’.