British Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to create new powers that will allow her to punish social media and telecoms companies that fail to look after user data and to demand money from companies to fund awareness-raising against harmful content online.
The election pledge comes after companies such as Facebook and Twitter came under fire from the government for not doing enough to stop the spread of extremist content online or help victims of abuse.
May, who is expected to win a majority in the June 8 election, has pledged to pass laws giving users new rights to access their data and giving the government the power to enforce them with penalties.
"The internet offers so many opportunities, but it also brings so many dangers that have evolved faster than society has responded to them," May said in a statement. "We want social media companies to do more to help redress the balance and work will be done to ensure they do this."
Reuters (London)