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Facebook, Twitter, and Google to face UK lawmakers over controlling coronavirus “conspiracies”

MPs want Big Tech to answer for what they allow people to speak about online.

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In the wake of corona, the lawmakers of the UK are planning on calling Big Tech companies Facebook, Twitter, and Google for the latest evidence on how the platforms are curbing misinformation from spreading.

The UK’s chair of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sports Committee, MP, Julian Knight said that big tech companies weren’t showing “clarity and openness” based on an earlier session conducted last month.

“We were very disappointed by the standard of evidence given by all three social media companies, given the damage that can be done by the deliberate spreading of false information about Covid-19 and the need to tackle it urgently,” Mr. Knight said.

“The failures by Twitter, Facebook, and Google to give adequate answers in writing to our outstanding questions have left me with no alternative but to recall them to Parliament.

“This time we expect the companies to demonstrate the importance they attach to this issue by sending senior executives who have knowledge of their policies and can be held accountable for them.”

The committee wants to recall the companies again to learn more about the measures taken to curb misinformation regarding the pandemic on their platforms.

Mr. Knight wrote to Big Tech companies this week stating that he is concerned about the fact that social media influencers and famous personalities have spread several fake and “conspiracy theories” surrounding the pandemic on social media platforms and wants them to restrict what people are allowed to speak about online.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net.

Tired of censorship and surveillance?

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