UK must regulate the power of Facebook to save quality journalism
As print circulations plunge and even digital news outlets are retrenching, Google says it might withdraw its news service from Europe
London — The UK should tackle the power of Alphabet’s Google and Facebook over Britain’s news publishers and push the tech platforms to promote quality journalism, according to a report commissioned by the UK government to find remedies for the struggling local press. The Cairncross Review calls for codes of conduct to govern commercial relationships between the Silicon Valley giants and news publishers that would be overseen by a regulator with enforcement powers, according to its findings published late on Monday. “While each platform should devise solutions that best fit the needs of their particular users, their efforts should be placed under regulatory scrutiny — this task is too important to leave entirely to the judgment of commercial entities,” said the authors of the review led by Frances Cairncross, an economist and former journalist. The report comes as the UK government considers how to sustain high-quality journalism as print circulations plunge and even new digital new...
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