INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Media captionTech companies ignored invite to government meeting about online behaviour, says Matt HancockThe culture secretary has agreed
he does not have enough power to police social media firms after admitting only four of 14 invited to talks showed up.Matt Hancock told the
TheIndianSubcontinent it had given him "a big impetus" to introduce new laws to tackle what he has called the internet's "Wild West"
culture.He admitted self-policing had not worked and legislation was needed.But Labour's Tom Watson said the government had "squandered"
chances to "get tough on the tech giants".Mr Hancock told TheIndianSubcontinent One's Andrew Marr Show, presented by Emma Barnett, that the
government "just don't know" how many children of the millions using using social media were not old enough for an account and he was "very
worried" about age verification.He said that as part of the Data Protection Bill currently going through Parliament, firms could be fined up
to 4% of their global turnover - which could run to more than £1bn for the biggest firms.Asked what the threshold would be for firms to be
hit with fines, in terms of underage children on certain platforms, he said: "I'm not going to give a figure because we are going to consult
on it."He told the programme he "hopes we get to a position" where all users of social media users has to have their age verified.Code of
conducts would be examined he said as existing "terms of reference" were often not enforced properly
Asked how many of the 14 firms invited to attend government talks had showed up, he replied: "Four."Image copyrightPAAnalysisBy
TheIndianSubcontinent political correspondent Jonathan BlakeGovernments love to talk tough, but sooner or later they have to back it up with
The culture secretary has admitted that calling on technology companies to "step up" and "do more" has only got ministers so far
But efforts to regulate the internet have had limited success
A plan to introduce age verification for all porn sites was due to come into force in April, but has been delayed with no details given
An "opt in" system where internet service providers ask people if they want to access adult content has seen sex education and suicide
prevention advice inadvertently blocked
A new law in Germany forcing social networks to remove hate speech within 24 hours is being revised after complaints that too much content
Two government departments are working on the new laws aimed at holding technology companies to account
They have a difficult, if not impossible, task.He said: "One of the problems we have got is that we engage with Facebook, Google and Twitter
and they get all of the press, they get all of the complaints in the public debate but there's now actually a far greater number of social
media platforms like musical.ly."They didn't show up and the companies, they have now got over a million on their site."He said that this,
and the difficulties getting Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to answer MPs' questions showed Britain did not have the power needed: "That's one
of the reasons we are legislating."The fact that only four companies turned up when I invited the 14 biggest in gave me a big impetus to
drive this proposal to legislate through."Pushed for details of how quickly social media firms would have to remove terrorist content to
avoid a fine, he said: "We should be very ambitious," but said a set timescale could mean companies "work up to that timescale", while he
would prefer them to do so "as quickly as possible".'Embarrassing'According to a consultation carried out last year, following the Internet
Safety Green Paper, four out of 10 people had experienced abuse online and 60% had seen inappropriate content
Digital Minister Margot James told Sky's Ridge on Sunday she had received abuse and reported it to the police.She added: "It's not just of
parliamentarians, it's any woman in public life, and some of our famous broadcasters have had the most terrible abuse online which is
completely unacceptable - if it's not illegal it should be and I think some of it is."Two government departments are working on a White
Paper expected to be brought forward later this year
Asked about the same issue on ITV's Peston on Sunday, Mr Hancock said the government would be legislating "in the next couple of years"
because "we want to get the details right"
Barnardo's chief executive officer Javed Khan urged the government to consider legislation "that ends the era of technology self-regulation
and puts children's safety at the heart of the online world".But shadow culture secretary Tom Watson said: "It's embarrassing that the
social media companies don't even take Matt Hancock seriously enough to show up to meet him."The data protection bill was the opportunity to
get tough on the tech giants and the government has squandered that."They voted down Labour's proposal for a digital bill of rights that
would have given adults and children stronger statutory protections online."'Toxifying public debate'There have been a series of efforts by
politicians to curb intimidation and abuse on social media
In February Theresa May announced a crackdown on the intimidation of political candidates and highlighted the "coarsening and toxifying of
our public debate" on social media
Mr Hancock's predecessor, Karen Bradley, said that Facebook and Twitter could be asked to help fund campaigns against abuse while the
European Commission flagged up delays by social networks in preventing and removing hate speech
Former Home Secretary Amber Rudd last year accused technology experts of "sneering" at politicians who tried to regulate their industry.
