• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, June 3, 2019

The Government's current consultation into the potential harms caused by social media always looked like it would lead to tougher regulation. It was announced on the back of some troubling incidents, including the well-publicised case of young woman taking her own life linked to online content.

Today we have compelling evidence that it is almost certainly going to call for tough regulation, but not go all the way and make social media giants responsible for everything on their pages. An Ofcom study has shown that public support for greater control over social media has soared in just a year. 

The research was carried out with the Information Commissioner's Officer (ICO) and found that support for sanctions has grown from 52% last year to 70% this year. It means that while adults were split on the issue last year, they are now in favour by a ratio greater than two in three. Clearly the ICO wanted to send a message to the Government with this research, and I would suggest they can consider it has been delivered. 

When the current consultation is over, any official announcing a plan to crack down on social media will not only have a bundle of submissions from the public and interested parties, but also research that shows the public is behind it.

Interestingly, the research suggest that public may not be in favour of draconian measures because at least a half of adults realise that social media plays an important part in free speech and news. Hence, 40% of the UK public now says social media is a constant source of news for them, most notably Facebook. However, it is also Facebook that is cited by most as having a poor experience, such as receiving fake news. 

So it's a balanced result we have here. Regulation needs to be tighter, and yet the public get that free speech and news sharing is important.

This is another indicator that the Government will not be too draconian in what it recommends. Most commentators are agreeing that the UK will not go all the way and label social media sites as publishers who are responsible for everything that appears on their pages. What is more likely is that it will be treated as a halfway house where they are liable for content if it is flagged up to them and it is not removed after a set period. 

That is the most likely scenario now that Ofcom and the ICO has announced that the public is behind tougher regulation, but also sees that free speech is vital in social media.

The sites need to be regulated, but the opinion would appear to be that they must also be protected from being controlled too tightly.