Last July, the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee published its report on social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms. It criticised the UK's online safety regime, stating that "the [Online Safety] Act is already out of date, failing to adequately address generative AI - a technology evolving faster than governments can legislate, which could make the next misinformation crisis even more dangerous". 

The Committee launched its inquiry following the Southport attacks in 2024. It distilled its conclusions into five main principles:

• Public safety: algorithmically accelerated misinformation poses a danger that both companies and government must address. The UK government and platform companies should work together to protect the public from it.
• Free and safe expression: neither government nor private companies should act as arbiters of truth. Steps to tackle amplified misinformation should align with the fundamental right to free expression, with restrictions imposed only where they are proportionate and necessary to protect national security, public safety and health, or to prevent disorder and crime.
• Responsibility: users should be held accountable for what they post online, but the platforms they use also bear responsibility, particularly for the systems used to moderate, circulate and amplify content.
• Control: users should have control over both their personal data and what they see online. This includes the right to delete the data stored by platforms and services that is used to drive content and advertising recommendation algorithms.
• Transparency: the technology used by platform companies, including social media algorithms, has significant public safety implications and should be transparent and accessible to public authorities.

The Committee said that the unrest and riots in the summer of 2024 were driven in part by misinformation and hateful content amplified on social media platforms by recommender algorithms. It also expressed the view that the OSA fails to address the algorithmic amplification of 'legal but harmful' content, leaving the public vulnerable to further misinformation  crises.

The Committee said that social media companies are responsible for amplifying false and harmful content on their platforms and urged stronger government action. It recommended imposing a set of duties on companies to deprioritise content identified as misleading by fact-checkers.

The Committee was also concerned that government policy is hampered by a lack of accurate, up-to-date information about how recommendation algorithms operate, caused by the limited transparency of social media companies. Without this information, it said, it would be impossible to properly identify and address online harms. The report recommended that the government commission independent research to remedy this and use the findings to inform the proposed standards and duties.

The Committee stressed that these measures should not censor lawful free expression but should instead impose proportionate restrictions on the spread of fact-checked misinformation.

According to the Committee, the OSA is already out of date because it fails to adequately address generative AI, and the report urged the government to pass legislation covering generative AI platforms. The report also highlighted the Committee's concerns about confusion between regulators and government over the OSA's role in regulating AI and tackling the spread of misinformation.

Finally, the Committee pointed out that the business models of social media companies encourage the algorithmic spread of engaging content, regardless of whether it is false or harmful. This affects the entire online ecosystem. The Committee identified a regulatory gap in this area, with platforms and advertisers 'unable or unwilling' to address the monetisation of false and harmful content.

Government response

While the government and Ofcom agreed with many of the report's conclusions, they rejected several of the Committee's recommendations on how to protect and empower social media users. In particular, the government did not accept the Committee's recommendation that it should pass online safety legislation covering generative AI platforms to protect citizens from the AI-exacerbated spread of misinformation and the harms it can cause. This would have brought those platforms into line with other online services that present a high risk of spreading illegal or harmful content. Instead, the government said that AI-generated content and services were already regulated under the OSA. This was despite Ofcom telling the Committee that the legal position was "not entirely clear" and that it wanted to speak to industry about where "more can be done".

Additionally, the report concluded that it would be difficult to tackle the algorithmic amplification of misinformation without addressing the main incentive behind it: the monetisation of content driven by social media companies' digital advertising models. While the government acknowledged that this was an issue, it said it would keep the matter "under review" rather than implement the changes to digital advertising regulation recommended by the Committee.

Children's wellbeing consultation

The Committee has now issued its response to the government's consultation on children's wellbeing online. It says there is strong and consistent evidence of significant harms to individuals arising from social media use, as well as a "building body of evidence of wider negative impacts correlated to social media use". In its view, there is a "clear need to protect people, especially the young, from these harms". It argues that responsibility for preventing harm should not rest on young people or parents, stating that government inaction "is not an option", and calling for more effective enforcement of existing age restrictions. The Committee also urged the government to revisit its July 2025 report, adopt its recommendations on tackling the dangers of social media, and bring forward legislation in the new parliamentary session.

The House of Commons Education Select Committee has also published its response to the consultation, calling on the Government to restrict "addictive" design elements for under-18s including infinite scrolling, disappearing messages and algorithm-driven content, warning these features fuel prolonged screen time, disrupt sleep, reduce attention and contribute to behavioural problems. It also wants a statutory ban on social media for children.