Social media companies are facing mounting criticism for failing to police harmful or illegal content on their sites, as Chris Bryden & Michael Salter explain
- There is a growing opinion that social media companies should not be allowed simply to host content that can be extreme without consequence.
As the world becomes ever more interconnected and dependent upon the internet and in particular social media, governments are finally waking up to the risks that such platforms can pose. Recently a number of nations, including the UK, have noted the risk that social media can pose. On 1 May 2017 the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee criticised social media companies for the harm that their platforms can cause by failing to act on illegal or harmful content.
The gist of the criticism is that social media providers have a duty as content providers to police the posts that they carry – a position first postulated by the authors in their paper ‘I can see you: harassment and stalking on the Internet’ ( Information &
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