The BBC’s chairman Richard Sharp is calling for tighter regulation of the world’s major social networks and platforms to crackdown on disinformation and fake news.
Speaking at the RTS Convention in Cambridge today, Sharp wants the BBC “to define itself globally as a pre-eminent purveyor of facts in the disinformation age.”
In his first major public intervention since taking up the role in February, Sharp will call for the outdated Communications Act 2003 to be replaced with modern legislation fit for the digital age and say now is the time to introduce greater protections to safeguard future generations.
He will say there are “urgent questions” that need answering as “closed media environments” have allowed conspiracy theories, lies and falsehoods to spread rapidly.
“Where once these theories would bubble away in private echo chambers, Covid has created the perfect conditions for them to boil over into the mainstream – fed by algorithms that are great at recognising viral potential but not so good at spotting nonsense.”
“The pandemic and ‘infodemic’ that has spread alongside have left us in no doubt of how vulnerable we all are. But it has also suggested that some are more vulnerable than others….The magnetic draw of conspiracy theories in our societies is getting stronger.
“And we can no longer pretend it doesn’t have real-life consequences – whether it’s pulling down 5G masts, driving down vaccine take up, or leaving the results of democratic elections in doubt.”
He...
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