Facebook behaved like ‘digital gangsters’, say MPs

Facebook bosses have been described as “digital gangsters” in a damning report from the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee.

Following an 18-month investigation into ‘fake news’, the committee says the social network deliberately broke privacy and competition law. Citing internal documents, the report says Facebook “violated” laws by selling people’s private data without their permission.

Turning on Facebook’s co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, MPs say he failed to show "leadership or personal responsibility" over fake news. They accuse him of contempt for parliament after he refused three separate demands for him to give evidence, sending juniors in his place.

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“Even if Mark Zuckerberg doesn't believe he is accountable to the UK Parliament, he is to billions of Facebook users across the world," said the inquiry chair Damian Collins. “Evidence uncovered by my committee shows he still has questions to answer yet he's continued to duck them,” he added.

The report, which runs to more than 100 pages, says that Facebook urgently requires far stricter regulation and that social media platforms should be subject to a compulsory code of ethics.

The committee concludes that “democracy is at risk from the malicious and relentless targeting of citizens with disinformation and personalised 'dark adverts’” from “unidentifiable sources”, which are delivered through the “major social media platforms we use every day”.

In response, Facebook said it shares Committee's concerns about “false news and election integrity” and insisted it had answered “more than 700 questions and with four of our most senior executives giving evidence”.

It admitted it had “more to do” and welcomed the digital select committee's report, saying said it would be open to “meaningful regulation” in the future.

CNN says the report is “the latest headache for the social media giant, which has come under intense scrutiny from policymakers in the United States and around the world following a series of data scandals including Cambridge Analytica”.

The BBC points out that it is not just Facebook that is under pressure and that the report’s harsh words will be felt throughout the social media industry. “Pressure is mounting on the tech giants to get to grips with the issue of fake news,” it said.

The committee also investigated British electoral law and concluded that it is unfit for purpose. Arguing that British elections are vulnerable to interference by hostile foreign actors, including Moscow, it says the government should examine recent elections for evidence of voter manipulation.