A letter responding to a Guardian editorial argues that harms from engagement-driven platforms extend beyond foreign propaganda to mental health, radicalisation and privacy, and calls for enforceable duties, penalties and transparency comparable to other national infrastructure.
Disinformation reflects a broader regulatory gap: the same amplification systems that spread foreign propaganda also damage mental health, accelerate domestic radicalisation and enable privacy violations.
Platforms should face enforceable duties of care, penalties proportionate to their scale, and transparency about algorithmic curation.
Regulation should treat major social platforms like critical infrastructure: clear rules, independent oversight and liability when harms occur.
Aneet Morar responds to a recent Guardian editorial on Russian disinformation by arguing that disinformation is only one visible symptom of a deeper failure to regulate social media. The letter frames major platforms as infrastructure that currently operates without the clear rules, oversight or liability expected of other large-scale systems.
Morar lists several concrete harms linked to engagement-driven feeds. These include damage to young people's mental health and the role of amplification mechanics in accelerating far-right radicalisation inside the UK, with references to disorder in Belfast and Southampton. Privacy risks also feature: new wearable devices such as Meta's smart glasses can make recording people without consent routine.
These demands are framed as minimum requirements for networks that shape beliefs and social behaviour for millions.
Morar draws on a career in the payments industry to make a comparative point. Infrastructure operating at the scale of global payments is governed by clear rules, independent oversight and legal liability when failures occur. Morar argues there is no good reason to hold social platforms—which influence public information and behaviour—to a lower standard.
Where this fits with tackling foreign disinformation
The letter accepts that combating state-backed campaigns, such as those attributed to the Kremlin, matters. However, Morar warns that focusing solely on foreign disinformation treats symptoms rather than causes. Unless platforms are held responsible for what their systems amplify across all societal segments, disinformation will remain one item in a broader catalogue of harms enabled by current platform design and commercial incentives.
Morar's letter narrows the policy choice. Regulators can continue to address discrete manifestations of harm—bot armies, specific campaigns—or they can establish systemic, enforceable obligations for the platforms themselves: duties of care, scaled penalties and algorithmic transparency. The letter argues the latter approach better aligns regulatory expectations for major digital platforms with how other large-scale infrastructure is governed.
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