2nd Report – Social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms
Select Committee
Science, Innovation and Technology Committee
HC 441
11 July 2025
Recommendations
3 results
8
Urge government to define social media companies' responsibility as publishers or platforms
Recommendation
Social media companies have often argued that they are not publishers but platforms, abdicating responsibility for the content they put online. We believe that these services, with sophisticated recommendation algorithms that directly amplify and push content to users, are not …
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Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
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23
Not Addressed
Clarify government departmental ownership for tracking and countering online foreign influence operations.
Recommendation
Responsibility for tracking foreign disinformation campaigns appears to be split between several departments, including DSIT. This suggests that the Intelligence and Security Committee’s 2020 characterisation of countering Russian influence operations as a “hot potato”, passed between different bodies, has not …
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Government Response Summary
The government response cuts off mid-sentence and does not address the recommendation to clarify departmental ownership of tracking and countering online narrative operations.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
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24
Not Addressed
Place the National Security Online Information Team on statutory footing and under ISC remit.
Recommendation
The NSOIT is an important tool in protecting citizens from disinformation and needs appropriate scrutiny. Government should place NSOIT on a statutory footing and bring it under the remit of the Intelligence and Security Committee, to ensure that our Principle …
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Government Response Summary
The government response cuts off mid-sentence and does not address the recommendation to put the NSOIT on a statutory footing and bring it under the remit of the Intelligence and Security Committee.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
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Conclusions (5) Observations and findings — click to expand
25
Conclusion
Not Addressed
The Online Safety Act does not protect users from the commodification of synthetic mis/disinformation, or provide effective transparency for the systems that produce them. It fails to address the issue of tech companies rolling out experimental features that can feed false or harmful information to their enormous audiences, further threatening …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the potential harm of online misinformation but states the Online Safety Act (OSA) takes a proportionate approach by focusing on content that is illegal or harmful to children. It reaffirms that for other legal content, platforms decide what is permitted, and the OSA empowers adult users to make informed choices rather than addressing the commodification of synthetic mis/disinformation or requiring transparency for its production systems.
26
Conclusion
Not Addressed
We are concerned at what appears to be contradiction and confusion between regulators and government over the capabilities, limitations and principles behind the Online Safety Act. We expect senior Ofcom officials and ministers to be fully aligned in their understanding of the Act—particularly in relation to critical issues such as …
Government Response Summary
The response text is truncated and does not engage with the substance of the conclusion.
30
Conclusion
Not Addressed
Advertising is crucial to major social media companies, which depend on recommending engaging content to increase time spent on their platforms and draw attention to adverts. Their recommendation algorithms do not effectively differentiate between harmless and harmful engaging content, which can result in promotion of misleading, damaging, or hateful material. …
Government Response Summary
The government reaffirms its commitment to a safer online world and urges providers to counter mis- and disinformation, but reiterates the Online Safety Act's focus on illegal content and content harmful to children. It does not address the committee's conclusion about recommendation algorithms incentivising harmful content due to advertising, instead referencing existing industry self-regulation like the IAB UK's Gold Standard.
31
Conclusion
Not Addressed
The global digital advertising market is overcomplicated, opaque and under-regulated, operating through an enormous, automated and inaccessible supply chain. This directly leads to the production, viral spread and monetisation of harmful and deceptive content, often without advertisers’ knowledge. Platforms and advertisers appear to be either unable or unwilling to address …
Government Response Summary
The government reiterates its commitment to a safer online world and the Online Safety Act's focus on illegal and child-harming content. It does not directly address the conclusion regarding the opaque and under-regulated digital advertising market's role in the production and monetisation of harmful and deceptive content, instead referring to industry self-regulation via the IAB UK's Gold Standard.
33
Conclusion
Not Addressed
There is a regulatory gap around digital advertising, as much of the regulation and interventions have been industry-led and focused on tackling harmful advertising content, as opposed to the monetisation of harmful content through advertising. We are not convinced that the digital advertising industry is able, or willing, to effectively …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges its commitment to a safer online world and that the Online Safety Act addresses illegal misinformation and content harmful to children. However, it does not directly address the committee's specific concern about a regulatory gap for the broader monetization of harmful content or its skepticism regarding the sufficiency of industry self-regulation, instead pointing to existing legislation and industry-led initiatives.