Minister flies to US to deliver warning to Facebook founder

Cabinet minister Jeremy Wright today urged Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to appear before a Commons committee which has investigated fake news.

The Culture Secretary flew 5,000 miles to the social media giant’s California headquarters for a face-to-face meeting with Mr Zuckerberg about plans to regulate social media giants after a series of scandals.

The Facebook chief angered MPs by refusing to appear before the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee when it was hearing evidence from experts about fake news online and the growing power of social media companies.

“What I will be saying to him is that ... it would be in Facebook’s interests for him to go and speak up for his side of the argument and describe what he says Facebook is doing and why,” Mr Wright told the BBC.

But the “primary purpose” of his visit to Facebook and other US social media companies was to discuss the Government’s plans to regulate them.

Mr Wright also rejected an idea of “co-regulation” being promoted by former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg, now head of global affairs and communications for Facebook.

Mr Wright added: “At the moment there is a situation where people are losing confidence in the ability of these companies to regulate themselves successfully and to deliver the kind of approach to online harms that people legitimately expect.”