Facebook, Twitter face a UK levy if cyber bullying not tackled

Bloomberg

Social-media giants such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. will have to reveal the scale of cyber bullying in the UK and face being made to pay the cost of dealing with it.
Under the latest guidance by the UK government, technology companies will be required to publish an annual report on how complaints are handled, the reported abuse that is pulled down and the extent of their efforts to moderate bullying or offensive content about children, women or religions.
One of the proposals is for “an industry-wide levy so social-media companies and communication service providers contribute to raise awareness and counter internet harms,” according to a statement that didn’t give further details. “Behaviour that is unacceptable in real life is unacceptable on a computer screen,” Culture Secretary Karen Bradley said in an email released by her office. “We need an approach to the internet that protects everyone.”
The campaign is part of the government’s wider strategy to force technology companies to accept greater responsibility for their content. Home Secretary Amber Rudd has also called on companies to “step up” and assume moral responsibility for ridding their platforms of terrorist content, refusing to rule out the prospect of compulsion by fines or legislation. The UK has been pushing the envelope in terms of how willing it is to go after Silicon Valley.