Rejected petition CURBING SOCIAL MEDIA FALSE RUMOURS - CREATE NEW AUDIENCE GROUP CALLED "PREVIOUS AUDIENCE ONLY"

False rumours, and general dis-information spread very quickly on Social Media (Facebook particularly) in a large part because any rebuttal exposes the falsehood to the 'friends' or followers of the individual posting the rebuttal. It is clear that the vast majority of the new audience (friends) do not read the rebuttal, rather they re-post 'share' the falsehood.

If Social Media is to be a force for good, then organisations like Twitter and Facebook should be compelled to create the audience option "All previous audience". This will not interfere with the principle of freedom of information but will put a fair rebuttal out there to curb the falsehood without exposing it to a new audience.

Social Media organisations already have a responsibility under the Data Protection Act to do the above. If they are indeed responsible organisations they will promote this petition and work to introduce these changes regardless of it's progression to Parliament or approval by it.