News Corp newspapers are leading the charge on the impact of Facebook on society directly and through its weakening of newsmedia.

And publishers group WAN-Ifra has formed a working group to discuss Facebook and its impact on journalism.

News group newspapers including The Times and The Australian are giving greater prominence to reports on the way in which Facebook and related social media channels threaten society.

Recent reports have focussed on revelations - from a presentation to a financial advertiser - that Facebook was collecting data on vulnerable children in order to improve ad targetting. But a report by Australian media editor Darren Davidson says Facebook is unlikely to face serious legal problems as it "falls through the cracks of privacy and data protection laws". Davidson said a 23-page internal report explained how software was being used to identify" moments when young people need a confidence boost", felt "worthless", "defeated" or insecure. Facebook says it has opened an internal review into the practice.

A related report told how a Jewish girl subjected to anti-Semetic abuse was told by Facebook the comments did not violate its community standards.

The same issue carries a report from The Times that British MPs were accusing Facebook, Twitter and Google of failing to tackle terrorism, violence and hatred online.

And in News' Queensland metro daily the Courier-Mail, a front page this week focussed on 'Keyboard killers' - a reference to A Queensland Police report that mentioned the involvement of social media in their official reports into "at least 20 violen crimes' last year.

WAN-Ifra chief executive Vincent Peyrègne says the technology platforms, "as de facto publishers", are rapidly reshaping journalism and the future of the news industry. He quotes Tow Center director Emily Bell's recent warning that "if the speed of this convergence continues, more news organisations are likely to cease publishing -distributing, hosting, and monetizing - as a core activity."

WAN-Ifra's 3000 news media publisher members and 80 member associations in 120 countries are being asked for their expert views on the impact of platforms, and to join an advisory group. "We believe that it has become essential for publishers around the world to get together around these issues," says Peyrègne. "Right now our focus is on Facebook and its impact on revenues and journalism."

With much intelligence to be collected, aggregated and shared, the group will connect via emails, newsletters and events, with a meeting planned for the World News Media Congress in Durban on June 8. This follows a first round table discussion in Paris in March.

Interested parties are invited to register their interest in participating in the expert panel.