Regulation will be placed on how social media firms target users with posts, videos and ads as directed by the UK’s AI advisor.
It also wants the government to force tech firms to hand data over to researchers on the impact of online content.
Britain is expected to soon start cracking down on big tech companies such as Facebook and Google over how they deal with harmful content.
They will target algorithms and force them to share data with researchers, an advisor to the government has said.
The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI), an advisory body set up by the government in 2018, released a 121-page report on Tuesday calling on London to implement new rules on how social media firms target users with posts, videos and ads. It said a year-long review into the practice found “existing regulation is out of step with the public’s expectations.”
Content-sharing apps like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok all use machine learning algorithms to tailor content to users, based on other posts they’ve interacted with. The CDEI was tasked by the government by looking into the practices of such platforms and putting forward advice on how to regulate artificial intelligence to ensure it’s being deployed ethically.
Research conducted by the CDEI with Ipsos Mori found that internet users generally distrust tech platforms when it comes to targeting, with only 29% of people in the U.K trusting them to target them in a responsible way. It said that 61% of Britons want more regulatory oversight while only 17% support tech platforms regulating themselves.
Comments