Committees

Social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms

Inquiry

Between 30 July and 7 August 2024, a wave of anti-immigration demonstrations and riots took place across the UK. Some targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers, driven in part by false claims that spread on social media platforms relating to the killing of three children in Southport.

Ofcom, the regulator, has said that illegal content and disinformation spread "widely and quickly" online following the attack, and that the riots demonstrated the role that “algorithmic recommendations” can play in driving divisive narratives in a crisis period. It said the response by social media companies to this content had been “uneven”.

The Online Safety Act 2023 tightens the law on disinformation and gives providers new duties to reduce the risk that their services are used for illegal activity, and to take down illegal content.

The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee is launching an inquiry into the links between algorithms used by social media and search engines to rank content, generative AI, and the spread of harmful or false content online. The inquiry will examine the effectiveness of current and proposed regulation for these technologies, including the Online Safety Act, and what further measures might be needed. It will investigate the role of these technologies in driving social harms, with a particular focus on their role in the summer 2024 riots.

This inquiry is no longer accepting evidence

The deadline for submissions was Thursday 19 December 2024.

Upcoming events

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Past events

Tuesday 18 March 2025
9:00am Private
9:30am Public
Oral evidence session 18 March 2025
Innovation showcase - Oral evidence
9:30am
  • Professor Svetan Ratchev (Professor of Production Engineering and Director of the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing, Faculty of Engineering at University of Nottingham)
Social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms - Oral evidence
9:45am
  • Dr Karen Middleton (Senior Lecturer in Marketing at University of Portsmouth and Advisor to the Conscious Advertising Network)
  • Phil Smith (Director General at Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA))
10:45am
  • Dr Eirliani Abdul Rahman (Online Safety Advocate and Former Trust and Council Member at Twitter)
  • Lyric Jain (CEO at Logically)
Room 8, Palace of Westminster
Tuesday 25 February 2025
2:30pm Public
Social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms - Oral evidence 25 February 2025
2:30pm
  • Chris Yiu (Director of Public Policy for Northern Europe at Meta)
  • Ali Law (Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs, UK and Ireland at TikTok)
  • Wifredo Fernandez (Senior Director for Government Affairs at X (formerly known as Twitter))
Room 8, Palace of Westminster
Tuesday 25 February 2025
9:00am Private
9:30am Public
Oral evidence session 25 February 2025
Innovation showcase - Oral evidence
9:30am
  • Dr Olusola Idowu (Founder at Hexis Lab)
Social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms - Oral evidence
9:45am
  • Amanda Storey (Managing Director, Trust & Safety at Google EMEA at Google)
Room 8, Palace of Westminster
Tuesday 21 January 2025
9:00am Private
9:30am Public
Oral evidence session 21 January 2025
Innovation showcase - Oral evidence
9:30am
  • Professor Sebastien Ourselin (Professor of Healthcare Engineering at Head of School, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, Kings College London)
Social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms - Oral evidence
9:45am
  • Zara Mohammed (Secretary General at Muslim Council of Britain)
  • Ravishaan Muthiah (Director of Communications at Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants)
  • Kelly Chequer (Councillor at Sunderland City Council)
10:15am
  • Marianna Spring (Disinformation and social media correspondent at BBC)
  • Mr Imran Ahmed (CEO at Center for Countering Digital Hate)
  • Dr Joe Whittaker (Lecturer at School of Social Sciences, Cyber Threats Research Centre, Swansea University)
Room 8, Palace of Westminster

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  • Email: commonssitc@parliament.uk
  • Phone: 020 7219 5023 (general enquiries) |020 7219 0731 (media enquiries)
  • Address: Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA