British officials to confront Facebook, Google and Twitter over misinformation

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From The Washington Post:

In a rare move, some members of the British Parliament are traveling to Washington this week to question Facebook, Google and Twitter about fake news and the spread of misinformation on their platforms. Experts say that by coming to the United States, U.K. officials are signaling how seriously they’re treating the issue.

The House of Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee will hold a hearing Thursday as part of an evidence-gathering mission to understand how disinformation campaigns and false news reports affect British elections and society. This is the first time a House of Commons committee will broadcast a public hearing live from outside the United Kingdom. Representatives from the tech companies, media researchers and news industry executives will gather before the 11-person, cross-party committee at George Washington University.

“The committee understands that the businesses that created this moral panic originated here. And they recognize that we are ahead of them in confronting it from a policy perspective and a national conversation perspective,” said David Carroll, a professor of media design at Parsons School for Design, who will speak as an expert witness at the hearing.

“The committee understands that the businesses that created this moral panic originated here. And they recognize that we are ahead of them in confronting it from a policy perspective and a national conversation perspective,” said David Carroll, a professor of media design at Parsons School for Design, who will speak as an expert witness at the hearing.

. . . .

In November, British Prime Minister Theresa May openly accused Russia of meddling in British elections and attempting to undermine Western democracies.

“It is seeking to weaponize information. Deploying its state-run media organizations to plant fake stories and Photoshopped images in an attempt to sow discord in the west and undermine our institutions,” she said. May’s office has since announced the creation of a national security communications unit to bolster Britain’s efforts to counter misinformation campaigns by state actors.

. . . .

Back in Washington, Congress has taken a more assertive stance against Silicon Valley in recent months. Some lawmakers are seeking new regulations for digital platforms and the business of online political advertising. Facebook, Google and Twitter executives were grilled by U.S. lawmakers during a series of high-profile congressional hearings last year for not doing enough to minimize Russian meddling. Several members of Congress have proposed new rules that would strike at the heart of their businesses: online ads.

Link to the rest at The Washington Post

PG suggests election-meddling by foreign entities is a new favorite excuse for losing elections.

However, this accusation implies that a great many of a nation’s citizens are easily fooled and that the fools will go vote on the basis of their mistaken understanding of facts.

One reasonable conclusion is that the politicians of a given nation want to maintain a monopoly on fooling the citizens in their countries. Or at least limit dissemination of disinformation to local media sources.