MPs accuse social media firms of spreading Iran misinformation

Parliamentary hearing takes aim at online harms from X, TikTok and Meta, including use of AI to ‘nudify’ young girls MPs have accused “complacent” social media companies of spreading Iran war misinformation, allowing political deepfakes that could threaten elections and still enabling the use of AI to make young girls appear naked. In a testy parliamentary hearing that exposed deepening frustration among MPs with big tech firms, X, TikTok and Meta listed measures they had taken to tackle online harms, but were told: “You seem to be doing an awful lot, and it’s not making a jot of difference.” In one exchange, TikTok’s director of public policy for northern Europe, Alistair Law, told the Commons science, innovation and technology committee the video-sharing platform did not allow pornography, nudity or harassment, but Freddie van Mierlo MP said he had found “numerous examples this morning” of TikTok videos instructing how to use Elon Musk’s Grok AI to nudify young girls. In another exchange, Wifredo Fernández, X’s director of global government affairs, claimed the platform was “politically agnostic” despite Emily Darlington MP citing research that it pushes rightwing content and Mus