Social media firms slammed by MPs for 'refusing' to help research into harmful effects
3 min read
Social media companies should be made to share data with researchers in a bid to better understand sites' harmful effects and protect their users, MPs have said.
The cross-party Science and Technology Committee said firms must work with academics as part of an enforced “duty of care” that can help identify those at risk and improve current online safety measures.
The MPs said it was “not good enough” that organisations had “openly refused” to share anonymised data with researchers who are trying to get to the bottom of their effects on young people's health and wellbeing.
They said a lack of cooperation from tech firms meant tthat hard evidence on the positive and negative impacts of their use remains “frustratingly” low - although social media has “facilitated” a rise in issues including bullying, grooming and ‘sexting’.
Furthermore National Crime Agency figures revealed that referrals from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children had “increased by 700%” over the last four years.
Committee chair Norman Lamb said firms had a responsibility to help tackle the “very real harms our young people face in the virtual world” where data protection laws allow, but that they seem in “no rush" to offer crucial information.
“We understand their eagerness to protect the privacy of users but sharing data with bona fide researchers is the only way society can truly start to understand the impact, both positive and negative, that social media is having on the modern world,” the Liberal Democrat MP said.
'PATCHWORK'
The group also called for an end to the “loose patchwork of regulation and legislation” around major sites and instead demand a "comprehensive regulatory framework" with "a strong sanctions regime".
The current “standards lottery”, they say, means sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and search engines such as Google and Bing are not currently the subject of specific regulation.
"This would mean establishing a regulator to provide guidance on how to spot and minimise the harms social media presents, as well take enforcement action when warranted," the report said.
Mr Lamb added: "We concluded that self-regulation will no longer suffice. We must see an independent, statutory regulator established as soon as possible, one which has the full support of the Government to take strong and effective actions against companies who do not comply.
“This approach does nothing to encourage the protection of younger users online. It is imperative that we take every step to protect young people online as we do offline.”
Elsewhere, the group say firms need to work with police, Government and charities to crackdown on child sexual exploitation (CSE) and abuse online.
Ministers should draw up an “ambitious target” of halving reported online CSE in two years and eliminating it in four years, they say.
The recommendations come days after Health Secretary Matt Hancock called on social companies to “purge” harmful posts from their sites after the death of a teenager was linked with the content.
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