Are tech firms to blame for extremism and abuse?

According to an ethic body, Facebook, Twitter, and Google should be held liable for illegal and dangerous content on its platforms.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) is urging the government to introduce new laws on extremist and abusive content, according to the BBC.

Prime Minister Theresa May announced the need to remove extremist content quickly before fines are issued.

The chairman for CSPL, Lord Bew, told the Times he was normally “allergic” to proposing new legislation but the decision came out of frustration with how the big technology companies were currently addressing the issue.

Social media concerns

Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, said to the BBC: “This is an attempt to make the Facebook boss, Mark Zuckerberg, a national censor.

“Facebook and Twitter will censor legal material because they are scared of fines.

“They are the worst people to judge right and wrong.”

Alongside extremist content, critics are concerned about how social media firms deal with racist posts, fake news and child sexual abuse content.

Twitter noted in a recent statement “abuse and harassment have no place on Twitter”.

Written by Leah Alger

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