Mr Lord said: "I think when you have large organisations who provide ostensibly a public service to almost a quarter of the globe, I think those companies have to recognise that comes with a set of social responsibilities and not just an issue of profit."

Common ground has to be found between the Government's demands and what is feasible for providers to do, adding: "I don't think the current position is sustainable."

Ministers should consider a German-style system, where providers are fined millions of euros for failing to remove fake news from their sites, he said.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think we should consider it but as with all these issues, social media is here to stay and actually it's just as incumbent on the organisations themselves to adjust their approach to this as well as the threat of fines.