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how journalists and non-journalists alike use social media to distribute news and opinion, and how comment sections on sites can be as important as the original “journalistic” article. For an example of the simplistic approach, take paragraph 4 of the section of the white paper’s executive summary headed “The problem”. It says: “Social media platforms use algorithms, which can lead to ‘echo chambers’ or ‘filter bubbles’, where a user is presented with only one type of content instead of seeing a range of voices and opinions. This can promote disinformation by ensuring that users do not see rebuttals or other sources that may disagree.” What about the thousands of single- minded and occasionally bloodyminded partisan voices offering independent commentary that are an essential part of the internet. They do not seek to offer a balanced view of the world and readers would not expect a right to reply. This paragraph almost sounds like an echo from last
Television www.rts.org.uk May 2019
‘THIS IS A COMPLEX AND NOVEL AREA FOR PUBLIC POLICY’ year’s recommendation from the otherwise well-informed DCMS Committee that the Government should use the Ofcom rules on impartiality to set standards for online content. To offset any concerns about possible government restrictions on “freedom of expression online” and “a free, open and secure internet”, there are reassurances in the white paper that seek to go beyond fine words. The independent regulator – either Ofcom or a new body – will be told to focus on protecting users from the most harmful content, “not judging what is true or not”. If the regulator is to be Ofcom, we can be sure its experience in broadcasting will be valuable
in making the expected “difficult judgement calls”. Ian Murray, executive director of the SoE, says he welcomed the reassurance from the DCMS, “but we must be ever-vigilant of the laws of unintended consequences and what some politicians or a future government may do to use online-harms legislation to restrict freedom of speech”. There is now a consultation period until 1 July, and vigilance will, indeed, be needed to ensure that, when legislation is finally presented to Parliament, the unintended, the unanticipated and the unforeseen do not flow from what is otherwise a sensible, practical and important law. n Stewart Purvis was Ofcom partner for content and standards 2007-10. During that time, he chaired the Digital Britain Media Literacy Working Party and was a member of the Government’s UK Council for Child Internet Safety. He is now a non-executive director of Channel 4 and writes here in a personal capacity.
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