U.K. Lawmakers Recommend Harsher Penalties for Tech Firms

A committee of U.K. lawmakers recommended the government take tougher measures to keep technology companies in check, according to Bloomberg. The recommendation follows a year-long inquiry into fake news and its impact on elections.

Damian Collins, the policy maker who spearheaded the inquiry, called for Parliament to create new laws to help a proposed regulator oversee the industry, with fines for companies to be calculated based on their revenue. “Companies like Facebook exercise massive market power which enables them to make money by bullying the smaller technology companies and developers who rely on this platform to reach their customers,“ Collins said in a statement. “We also have to accept that our electoral regulations are hopelessly out of date for the internet age.“

Karim Palant, head of U.K. public policy at Facebook, said in an emailed statement that the company is "open to meaningful regulation" and supports "the committee’s recommendation for electoral law reform." The committee’s 110-page report isn’t legally binding, but will be treated by government as a recommendation when drafting new legislation.

The U.K. committee questioned a string of high-profile experts and executives last year in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal in order to reach the conclusions published Monday, including whistle-blower Christopher Wylie, and Facebook executives Richard Allan and Mike Schroepfer. It failed to persuade Mark Zuckerberg to give any evidence personally.

The same group of lawmakers are now examining the role "immersive and addictive technologies" have on society, and particular on young children, as part of a new inquiry. Social media, video-games, virtual reality, and the compulsive use of smartphones, are all in the spotlight.