Social media chiefs could be questioned by MPs as part of a cross-party inquiry into the dangers of fake news.
Damian Collins, the chairman of the commons culture committee, told The Times that it was actively considering launching an official inquiry, with sessions beginning by the start of summer.
Facebook, Google and Twitter would be asked whether they were doing enough to combat the spread of false stories, in the light of claims that fake news swung the US presidential election and was undermining democracy. Mr Collins said: “We’d want to understand more about the sources of fake news and whether more could be done by the industry to identify those sources, so they can be taken down.”