UofG researchers spotlight big tech platform regulation in the UK

With much of our time spent on online platforms, which are increasingly influential in people's daily lives, how they are regulated is becoming a vitally important issue. Now high-profile research conducted as part of the Arts & Humanities Research Council Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) and published today has analysed how eight government and parliamentary reports and inquiries over an 18-month period have highlighted and set the agenda for platform regulation. The reports, published between September 2018 - February 2020, dealt with issues such as online harms, cybercrime, and the regulation of social media platforms. The University of Glasgow researchers analysis has revealed that some 80 distinct online harms have been discussed. The regulatory landscape is cluttered with no less that nine different UK agencies with responsibilities. Professor Martin Kretschmer, Professor of Intellectual Property Law and Director of the UK Copyright and Creative Economy Centre (CREATe) at the University of Glasgow, one of the report authors, said: "Fake news, cyber-attacks, predatory acquisitions. Dangerous things are happening on online platforms.