
© Global Look Press
The UK government's fake news crusade is not quite going according to plan. A taxpayer-funded trip to the US saw representatives of social media giants rather lukewarm on claims of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum.
UK lawmakers from the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee traveled to Washington in an attempt to extract information from leading tech firms including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Google. Committee members held hearings with the company's executives, during which they were told there was little or no evidence of fake news being circulated on their platforms.
"The patience of policy makers is running out," Chairman of the Committee Damian Collins told a press conference, following the hearings.
Angered, Collins insisted the committee from Britain be heard and ordered Google and others to have a "sense of compulsory obligation" and accept their investment in dealing with "bad content" was "still very small."
Despite numerous investigations, one of which revealed that less than $1 (£0.72) was spent on Facebook ads in the Brexit referendum from accounts linked to Russia, the UK government is seemingly not giving up their battle with fake news.
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