Tech giants could be fined in efforts to tackle misinformation

The Lords Committee on Democracy and Digital Technologies said the Government must act to deal with a “pandemic of misinformation”, and one step would be to give broadcast regulator Ofcom additional powers to punish digital platforms for failing to protect users.

In a new report, the committee said power online had been ceded to a “few unelected and unaccountable digital corporations”, and regulation is needed to prevent these firms negatively influencing public debate and democracy.

The committee has called on the Government to publish its Online Harms Bill immediately to ensure that companies are properly held to account for misinformation spreading on their platforms. The report also calls for political advertising to be brought into line with other forms of advertising in terms of requirements around truth and accuracy, and the introduction of a digital ombudsman to oversee the moderation of online content and provide a point of appeal .

Lord Puttnam, chair of the committee said: “We are living through a time in which trust is collapsing.

“Part of the reason for the decline in trust is the unchecked power of digital platforms. These international behemoths exercise great power without any matching accountability, often denying responsibility for the harm some of the content they host can cause, while continuing to profit from it.

“We’ve seen clear evidence of this in recent months through a dangerous rise of misinformation about Covid-19.

“That must stop - it is time for the Government to get a grip of this issue.”