Newcastle MP to lead probe into social media, misinformation, and algorithms
by James Harrison · ChronicleLiveA North East MP is to lead an inquiry into algorithms used by social media and search engines, generative AI.
Chi Onwurah, MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West and chair of the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, has said lessons must be learned from the summer riots, when rumours spread via social media in the wake of the Southport stabbings contributed to widespread violence.
The panel's investigation, which will be accepting evidence submissions until December 18, will look at the role played by false claims, spread via social media algorithms, in the summer riots, as well as the effectiveness of current and proposed regulation for these technologies, including the Online Safety Act, and what further measures might be needed.
The MP and committee chair said: “The violence we saw on UK streets this summer has shown the dangerous real-world impact of spreading misinformation and disinformation across social media.
"We shouldn’t accept the spread of false and harmful content as part and parcel of using social media. It's vital that lessons are learnt, and we ensure it doesn't fuel riots and violence on our streets again.
“This is an important opportunity to investigate to what extent social media companies and search engines encourage the spread of harmful and false content online. As part of this, we’ll examine how these companies use algorithms to rank content, and whether their business models encourage the spread of content that can mislead and harm us.
"We’ll look at how effective the UK’s regulations and legislation are in combatting content like this- weighing up the balance with freedom of speech – and at who is accountable.”
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