The Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee chairman Damian Collins said that Facebook should check what goes on its website to help battle the spread of fake news.

Speaking to Sky News, he called on big social media platforms to take responsibility for stories that get shared but have a false, unproven nature.

He said: “Just as major tech companies have accepted they have a social responsibility to combat piracy online and the illegal sharing of content, they also need to help address the spreading of fake news on social media platforms.”

Collins also highlighted the scale of the issue, mentioning how the top fake news stories had overthrown the top legitimate ones in the last three months of the US election campaign.

He suggested that the Government should ask Facebook to not only oversee its content, but also look at where fake news is coming from and the server used by those writers.

As part of the CMS Committee, Collins and other MPs will look at what impact fake news has on specific events like the EU referendum in a forthcoming parliamentary inquiry.

The Committee explained that the reason for the inquiry emerged from concerns over people being fed propaganda and untruths from non-traditional news sources.

The group of cross-party MPs will look at whether changes in the selling and placing of advertising have encouraged the growth of fake news, as well as what responsibilities search engines like Google and social media websites like Twitter have in restricting its spread.