Major Parliamentary report calls for enhanced measures by social media companies to tackle antisemitism on their platforms

A major Parliamentary report has called on social media companies to introduce enhanced measures to tackle racism against Jewish people on their platforms.

The Joint Committee on the Draft Online Bill, which is studying the Government’s proposed legislation to regulate social media, has recommended changes to ensure rapid response by social media companies to requests from the police for information. The report stopped short of calling for an end to anonymous accounts, as these carry wider benefits, but it did call on companies to prevent abuse by anonymous accounts, for example by enhancing traceability for use by law enforcement.

The 200-page report also recommends that technology companies be required to appoint a “Safety Controller” from senior management who would be personally liable if the company fails to comply with the new rules.

The report insists that “no-one should be abused for their religious faith or identity and tech companies must take steps to prevent the spread of such material and remove it from their platforms.” In particular, the report raises concerns over algorithms that may amplify antisemitic abuse in social media networks.

“Platforms will have a duty to design their systems to identify, limit the spread of, and remove racist abuse quickly following a user report,” the Committee said, and declared that technology companies would “have to address hate crimes such as stirring up racial hatred that may not currently be covered.”

On abuse in football, the report specifies that companies should share information about offenders with clubs to enable abusive fans to be banned from matches.

The report also calls on Ofcom to produce a Code of Practice on platform design.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has long called for tougher regulations on social media sites and that social networks proactively search for and remove hate speech from their platforms.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has launched a new weekly podcast. New episodes of Podcast Against Antisemitism are available every Thursday and can be streamed here or downloaded wherever you get your podcasts.