Tech Industry
Facebook

Google and Facebook should be regulated to help people spot 'quality news', UK report says

Platforms need to do more.
By  Laura Byager  on February 12, 2019
The BBC News application is seen on an iPhone in this photo illustration on January 29, 2019. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The BBC News application is seen on an iPhone in this photo illustration on January 29, 2019. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Credit: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

When tech giants such as Facebook, Apple, and Google display news, they should do so under regulatory scrutiny, an official UK report recommends.

The Cairncross review, a report on the future of the UK news industry providing regulators with recommendations for the future of the news industry, said online platforms should be obligated to help their users better understand the origin of a news article and help them detect whether or not a news story is trustworthy.

"Government should place an obligation on the larger online platforms to improve how their users understand the origin of an article of news and the trustworthiness of its source, thereby helping readers identify what “good” or “quality” news looks like," the report says.

Per the Cairncross review, big online platforms are well-positioned to help users identify quality news, since they already have so much knowledge and data available on how users engage with news content.

"This task is too important to leave entirely to the judgment of commercial entities."

But, the report states, they should be put under regulation in order to ensure that they do enough to help their users identify quality journalism and thereby also halt the spreading of fake news and misinformation."This task is too important to leave entirely to the judgment of commercial entities."

Since the question of whether or not users are able to separate quality journalism from fake news is ultimately a question of media literacy, the Cairncross review also recommends that the Goverment develops a media literacy strategy.

"Adults, as well as children and young people, need critical literacy skills to navigate the volume of information online, evaluate it, and decide what it means to them," the report states.

The Cairncross review also underlines the importance of helping people better understand the actual implications of using social media and the internet in general. "People need to be more aware of the vast amount of information that online businesses hold on them, how it is acquired and how it is used."

Damian Collins MP, Chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, commented that he "welcomed" the "obligation on behalf of the platforms to help their users distinguish between quality journalism, and stories coming from organisations that have been linked to disinformation or are regarded as being unreliable sources."

Mashable has reached out to Facebook and Google for comment. 

UPDATE: Feb. 12, 2019, 3:29 p.m. GMT A Facebook spokesperson writes in an email to Mashable: “We’re deeply committed to supporting publishers in the UK, and to making sure that people see credible news on Facebook. We have engaged fully with Dame Cairncross and her team during this process, and are reviewing the recommendations put forward today."

Related Video: How quitting Facebook affects your brain

More in Facebook, Google


More in Tech Industry

Here's why the internet is broken today
No, it's not just your computer.
07/22/2021
By Matt Binder

YouTube rolls out a new revenue stream for creators, Super Thanks
There's a new way for creators to get paid.
07/20/2021
By Matt Binder

Twitter suspends Marjorie Taylor Greene again, this time over misleading vaccine tweets
Her next strike will land her a week-long ban.
07/20/2021
By Caitlin Welsh

U.S. and allies formally accuse China of hacking and cyber espionage
The U.S., EU, and NATO formally accuse China of malicious cyber activities.
07/19/2021
By Stan Schroeder

Facebook's response to Biden and his COVID misinfo criticism is a big miss
How many people have seen COVID-19 misinformation? Facebook won't say.
07/18/2021
By Matt Binder

More in Tech

I cut the cord, but it's so difficult to watch the Tokyo Olympics without cable
The Tokyo Olympics are my first games since cutting the cord.
10 hours ago
By Sasha Lekach

Now Google will display why it's showing you its search results
Google is pulling back the curtain on its Search algorithm. At least a little bit.
07/23/2021
By Rachel Kraus

Say hello to Yats: Why investors are paying thousands to 'own' emoji
There's an underground marketplace for emoji, and they're going fast.
07/22/2021
By Jack Morse

Twitter tests a downvote system, and the anti-like is finally here
Upvoting the test.
07/21/2021
By Jack Morse

Finally, now you can pay for Tumblr posts with Tumblr Post+
Just what everyone has been asking for.
07/21/2021
By Christianna Silva

Trending on Mashable

Hubble spots a galaxy warped and magnified by intense gravity
Gravity reveals a distant, dying galaxy.
16 hours ago
By Kellen Beck

Best hookup apps and dating sites to find casual sex with no strings attached
Expand your options past someone at the bar — or your ex.
07/07/2021
By Leah Stodart and Miller Kern

All the best places to click on when you want to get off
Why not expand your porn horizons?
08/09/2020
By Tim Marcin

Teslas are basic now but many Musk stans don't want to accept that
Tesla fanatics can't handle the next generation of electric vehicles.
07/23/2021
By Sasha Lekach

Guy sends AirTag to Tim Cook, gets it back with a letter
Nice touch from Apple.
07/23/2021
By Stan Schroeder
The biggest stories of the day delivered to your inbox.
By signing up to the Mashable newsletter you agree to receive electronic communications from Mashable that may sometimes include advertisements or sponsored content.
Thanks for signing up. See you at your inbox!
https://mashable.com/article/facebook-google-cairncross-report
mashable.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2021-31
86605
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:STXVV5OVXOKEQC2NWQ7BJPK4XUAXMBIA
<urn:uuid:13a14e6c-9c3c-4d62-8033-5ead7dab61c9>
2021-07-25T07:22:05Z
104.18.6.92
text/html
sha1:M6MZWCGKZEHRYTJKGBP52MT2TINIAHIT
<urn:uuid:2b099e1f-92d1-4ead-86bb-1f6f81f1a28a>
https://mashable.com/article/facebook-google-cairncross-report
response
<urn:uuid:2179c845-15b1-422d-a7a2-91f360bc5c0a>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2021-31
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for July/August 2021
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-58.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.18 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.2-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/