Act now over internet’s ‘pandemic of misinformation’ – The Yorkshire Post says

It is said Boris Johnson is fearful of the committee’s diligent and long-awaited report into alleged Russian interference in British democracy. Completed last October, it was initially put on hold by the election.

Yet, given how social media and the internet are open to manipulation, either by rogue foreign powers like Russia or the more unscrupulous political campaigners, it explains why trust in politics is at a dangerously low level.

This issue also goes to the heart of today’s House of Lords report on the ‘pandemic of misinformation’ that now poses an existential threat to Britain’s democracy.

An issue highlighted by The Yorkshire Post on election day last year, the report says the Government must take action ‘without delay’ to ensure tech giants are held responsible for the content shared on their platforms.

And the reason is this – the standards that do, in fact, regulate the print and broadcast media also need to be applied to Facebook, Twitter and others to stop the spread of unsubstantiated rumour from election claims to Covid-19 conspiracy theories or personal slurs.

As Lord Puttnam, chair of the Lords Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee, says, these “international behemoths exercise great power without any matching accountability”. He’s right. Waiting until 2024 for the Draft Online Harms Bill is not good enough – it might not even be possible to pass it, on that time-scale, before the next election.

The Government has to give Ofcom powers now to act. And this also means publishing the Russia report if Ministers are serious about safeguarding the integrity of our democracy and public debate.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

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James Mitchinson