CLACTON MP Giles Watling has told internet tech giants they are “behind the curve” on tackling fake news on social media.

Mr Watling is in Washington DC with a cross-party panel of MPs who are taking evidence from internet companies, including YouTube, Google, Facebook and Twitter, as part of an inquiry into fake news.

As part of the hearing, YouTube told the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee it has found no evidence of Russian sources using ads on its video-sharing service to attempt to interfere in the EU referendum.

Speaking to Juniper Downs, YouTube’s global head of public policy, Mr Watling said: "It seems to me like you have opened a Pandora's box – probably unintentionally - and you have got a tiger by the tail and you are somewhat behind the curve.

"Misinformation, disinformation, fake news is sort of sexy.

“People like ghosts, they like conspiracy theories and UFO stories and they follow them and this generates a huge amount of traffic.

“That would be good for you because you can harvest the data from these people."

Gazette: Fake news: The House of Commons' culture committee has questioned tech giants in Washington DCFake news: The House of Commons' culture committee has questioned tech giants in Washington DC

  • Fake news: The House of Commons' culture committee has questioned tech giants in Washington DC

Ms Downs insisted that YouTube's algorithms were already able to block videos from "fake news farms" and would demote so-called "clickbait" content, which uses exciting headlines to attract viewers to information of little or no value, so that it is seen by fewer users.

"When it comes to news content, our commitment is to provide our users with authoritative information from established sources," she said.

"We want to demote low-quality content.

"We think it is a better long-term plan for the business to be seen as a trusted provider of news and information to our users."

Gazette:

  • Juniper Downs, YouTube’s global head of public policy

YouTube has previously informed a US Senate committee of 18 channels it discovered which were linked to a suspected Russian content farm known as the Internet Research Agency in St Petersburg.

Facebook said it had removed "thousands" of fake accounts in the run-up to elections in the UK, France and Germany.

The committee also met with senior US senators who have been investigating allegations of Russian interference and collusion in the American presidential election.