British PM urges social media investors to act on abuse

British Prime Minister Theresa May will encourage activist investors on Thursday to pressure social media firms into clamping down on fake news, hate speech and sexual harassment.

“Investors can make a big difference here by ensuring trust and safety issues are being properly considered. And I urge them to do so,” she will say in a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

She will highlight how a group of shareholders recently demanded Facebook and Twitter “disclose more information about sexual harassment, fake news, hate speech and other forms of abuse that take place on the companies’ platforms”.

May will say that smaller media platforms also need to act, according to extracts of her speech released by her office in London.

“Smaller platforms can quickly become home to criminals and terrorists. We have seen that happen with Telegram,” May will say.

“And we need to see more co-operation from smaller platforms like this. No-one wants to be known as ‘the terrorists’ platform’ or the first choice app for paedophiles.”

Her call comes as part of a broader push for international action against online extremism, which May took last year to the G7 and the United Nations General Assembly.

In Davos, she will say that big technology firms have made progress in dealing with harmful and illegal online activity, but must do more.

She will chair a meeting with technology companies including Siemens, Cisco and IBM, to discuss their role in ensuring the “responsible use of the internet”, her spokesman said.

May will later hold talks with US President Donald Trump, with whom relations have been strained, most recently over his retweet of anti-Muslim videos by a far-right British group.

Also in Davos will be leftwing firebrand John McDonnell, the finance spokesman for Britain’s main opposition Labour Party who lists “generally fomenting the overthrow of capitalism” among his interests in the Who’s Who guide.

He said he intended to deliver “a warning to the global elite” gathered in the luxury Swiss ski resort that “the global economic system they have built isn’t working for billions of people”.

“The Davos few have hoarded power and wealth and failed the many. If they stand in the way of the change that’s needed, they risk raising the price they pay. Change is coming either way,” he said on Wednesday.