London Mayor Sadiq Khan is warning Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube they will face a potential clampdown from governments around the world if they fail to “go further and faster” in stopping online abuse. Speaking at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, on Monday, Khan will predict that other countries will follow Germany’s example of introducing fines for companies that fail to tackle the spread of racism, extremism, illegal content and fake news. A major parliamentary inquiry is underway into the spread of fake news and its influence on democracy, while British ministers want social media companies to do more to tackle extremism and abuse. In the Times on March 10, the UK’s Digital Secretary Matthew Hancock suggested imposing time limits to restrict the usage of social media platforms by teenagers. “What we need to see is a stronger duty of care,” he will say, according to the extracts.

Source: The Star March 12, 2018 03:56 UTC