One of the winners of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize has attacked US internet companies for what she called a “flood of toxic sludge” on social media.

During her acceptance speech in Norway, Philippine journalist Maria Ressa said technology giants had “allowed a virus of lies to infect each of us”.

Ms Ressa, co-founder of the news site Rappler, accused sites such as Facebook of profiting from spreading hate, BBC reported.

The 58-year-old was addressing guests at a ceremony in the capital, Oslo.

She went on to accuse US internet giants of being “biased against facts and journalists” and of using their “God-like power” to sow division.

“Our greatest need today is to transform that hate and violence, the toxic sludge that’s coursing through our information ecosystem,” she said.

Ms Ressa was receiving the Nobel Peace Prize at Oslo City Hall on Friday along with her co-laureate Dmitry Muratov, editor of the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

They were both awarded the prize in recognition of their fights to defend freedom of expression.

Mr Muratov, 60, urged guests at the ceremony to observe a minute’s silence for journalists killed in the course of their work, and said the profession was going through “a dark time” in Russia.