Mal Fletcher comments on the rise in phoney news and analyses the potential future implications.

In conjunction with that code, there should be a more rigorous legal framework to hold internet companies accountable.

Anonymous membership of web services should be phased out, so that people know they're being held accountable for their words.

Finally, so-called "news" sites should be subject to a benign but rigorous editorship, perhaps driven by educated volunteers using a similar system to Wikipedia. It's a far from perfect system and is sometimes too subjective, but it might at least make it harder for fake news stories to become a permanent part of the record.

Fake news will likely survive whatever we do. It will not, however, thrive unless we all either buy into its claims - because they suit our outlook - or ignore it hoping that it will just go away.