Closed petition: Legally designate social media platforms as “Publishers”

Closed on 3 September 2025

Legally designate social media platforms as “publishers." We think this would help bring them into line with the same obligations that other publishers such as newsprint and broadcast media organisations have, who can face action for inaccurate, defamatory, or illegal content.

We believe the riots last year showed the need to change the current legal framework for social media platforms. We think lies and misinformation seem to have become the norm on these platforms and that, in our view, this impacts so heavily on civil society as well as individual citizens that something must be changed. We feel there's also growing concern about the impact of these platforms on children but that they're very resistant to properly police content which is harmful to children.