Web giants Facebook, Google and Twitter could be taxed to stamp out ‘fake news’ to teach public how to spot bogus information
Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright wants social media giants to help pay for a new regulatory body to rid the internet of propaganda and election tampering
NEW Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright has confirmed he is eyeing a fake news tax on social media giants.
The newbie Cabinet Minister used his first grilling before MPs to reveal a levy on tech companies is being considered to help pay for a new regulatory body to help rid the online wild west of propaganda and election tampering.
Mr Wright, who was a surprise appointment in July, shared his plans with the powerful Commons Digital Culture Media and Sport Committee, telling the MPs the status quo was not working and is ready for a proper clampdown - but it would be unfair to hit the public purse.
Ministers have been studying ideas to charge big companies and not the taxpayer for a new internet regulator for months but Mr Wright has now publicly confirmed he has giants such as Facebook, Google and Twitter in his sights.
The money raised from the tech giants could be used to fund education for the public on how to spot and ignore propaganda and other malicious content online.
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Mr Wright told the committee that a White Paper due to be released in the winter would look at a wide range of actions to be taken.
“I do think that it is important that it (a levy) is one of the options that we look at,” he said.
“Of course we can look at a levy to fund a number of things.”
Asked by chairman Damian Collins whether he agreed that it “shouldn’t be down to the taxpayer to fund this”, he added: “If we are still talking about the threat to our democracy, to our national security, via hostile foreign states then there is a dimension of that where the cost needs to be borne by the taxpayer because that is part of the job of the state defending itself.
Kid pics axed
FACEBOOK has removed 8.7million pieces of content linked to child exploitation in the past three months, the company has revealed.
The social network’s global head of safety Antigone Davis said they violated the site’s rules on child nudity and child exploitation.
The company said 99 per cent was removed before being reported.
Ms Davis said: “Our Community Standards ban child exploitation and to avoid even the potential for abuse, we take action on nonsexual content as well, like seemingly benign photos of children in the bath.”
“If on the other hand we are talking about online harms more broadly then I think there is a role for us to think about for social media companies and other online presences to work out how this extra activity should be funded.
“It’s one of the options worth considering and in the end if there is more activity it has got to be paid for somehow.”
Facebook spokesman Karim Palant, told a separate Commons committee “Our chief executives have talked about the fact that some regulations are going to be inevitable.”
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