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Google, Apple, Facebook and Twitter may require new UK regulations, says Ofcom

Published: 12:51 16 Nov 2022 GMT

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The UK’s media watchdog said new regulations may be required as it has concerns about the role of US tech companies such as Google, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Facebook in controlling what news stories people see and how they react to them.

Following a study of how news is consumed, regulator Ofcom grew concerned around the impact of social media companies, search engines and news apps acting as online news ‘gatekeepers’.

Facebook, which is owned by Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB), and news apps such as Apple News and Google News, which is part of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) were named, while search engines are dominated by Alphabet’s Google, with Bing from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a distant second.

Ofcom published a report today as part of its latest investigation into ‘media plurality’ – or whether there are enough providers of media, be that online news, TV and radio services.

The study examined the impact of the growth of online news and intermediaries such as social media, search engines and news apps, which are used by two out of every three online adults for news.

While people value search engines for helping them find more about news stories, and news apps for alerting them to breaking news, the research found people are often unaware of the choices that social media, search and news apps are making on their behalf, and why some stories are shown to them or not.

An almost equal proportion of people think that news is personalised for them (35%) compared to those who think it is not personalised (36%), while 29% were unsure.

With social media found to have a polarising effect, with users more likely to be less tolerant of opposing political views, it was surprising to many respondents that current media plurality rules do not apply to social media, search engines or news-gathering apps.

New regulations may include new tools to require tech firms to be more transparent over the choices they make in determining the news we see online, as well as giving users themselves more choice and control, Ofcom said.

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