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1311150

registered interest
date	21/04/2021
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Internet: Disinformation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle conspiracy groups that share misinformation online.
tabling member constituency	Preston
tabling member printed	Sir Mark Hendrick
uin	185286
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/04/2021 answer text <p>The Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously and DCMS is leading work across Government to tackle it. In response to the harmful disinformation and misinformation relating to Covid-19 we stood up the Cross-Whitehall Counter Disinformation Unit on 5 March 2020, which brings together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>We are working closely with social media platforms to help them to quickly identify and respond to potentially harmful content on their platforms, including unfounded conspiracy theories, in line with their terms and conditions.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>We are also working with industry to support the introduction of systems and processes that promote authoritative sources of information. We have seen positive steps taken by social media platforms to curtail the spread of harmful and misleading narratives. Platforms have updated their terms of service and made technical changes to their products, including the addition of labels and warning messages which provide additional context and information on content containing disputed or misleading information related to Covid-19. We welcome those moves, but more action is needed to further limit the spread of misinformation on their platforms - particularly where this could result in real-world harm.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 26/04/2021 14:19:14 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

1311151

registered interest
date	21/04/2021
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Internet: Disinformation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the extent of QAnon's influence in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Preston
tabling member printed	Sir Mark Hendrick
uin	185287
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/04/2021 answer text <p>The Government is focused on addressing disinformation or misinformation by any group. In response to the harmful disinformation and misinformation relating to Covid-19 we stood up the Cross-Whitehall Counter Disinformation Unit on 5 March 2020, which brings together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Unit’s primary function is to provide a comprehensive picture of the extent, scope and impact of disinformation and misinformation regarding Covid-19 and to work with partners to ensure appropriate action is taken.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>There has been no recent assessment of the extent of QAnon’s influence in the UK. However, we have been working closely with social media platforms to quickly identify and help them respond to potentially harmful content on their platforms, including removing harmful content in line with their terms and conditions, and promoting authoritative sources of information.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 27/04/2021 09:36:12 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

1283666

registered interest
date	03/02/2021
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Internet: Disinformation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of online misinformation that is circulated via online advertising.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	148775
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2021 answer text <p>The Government takes the issue of misinformation and disinformation very seriously. That is why we stood up the Counter Disinformation Unit in March 2020 to bring together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities and work closely with social media platforms to quickly identify and help them respond to potentially harmful content on their platforms.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>We welcome steps taken by platforms to tackle mis/disinformation related to Covid-19, including the introduction of new policies or steps to ban misleading advertising. In a meeting with the Digital Secretary and Health Secretary in November 2020, platforms also agreed to the principle that no user or company should directly profit from COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>As part of the government’s Online Advertising Programme, we held a call for evidence last year on the extent to which consumers are exposed to harmful or misleading advertising online, and whether the scale and speed of online transactions is creating challenges for the existing regulatory system. We will launch a public consultation on measures to enhance the regulation of online advertising in the UK later this year.</p><p><strong><p><p><br></strong></p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 09/02/2021 10:38:02 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1278364

registered interest
date	19/01/2021
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Internet: Disinformation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps he has taken to tackle the effect of misinformation online on disordered eating.
tabling member constituency	Pontypridd
tabling member printed	Alex Davies-Jones
uin	140321
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2021 answer text <p>The government is committed to making the UK the safest place to be online.</p><p>The Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation, published in December 2020, sets out the government’s plans to introduce a new statutory duty of care. Tech companies will have new responsibilities to protect their users, particularly children, from harmful content, which could include eating disorder content. The Online Safety Bill, which will give effect to the regulatory framework outlined in the full government response, will be ready this year.</p><p>We have asked the Law Commission to review the current legislation on harmful online communications. As part of this review the Government has also asked the Law Commission to examine how the criminal law will address the encouragement or assistance of self harm. The Law Commission has made provisional recommendations and has consulted on these proposed reforms. They will provide final recommendations in summer 2021.</p><p>Online media and digital literacy can equip users with the skills they need to spot dangers online, critically appraise information and take steps to keep themselves and others safe online. The Online Harms White Paper, set out the government’s intention to develop an online media literacy strategy. The strategy will ensure a coordinated and strategic approach to online media literacy education and awareness for children, young people and adults.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 25/01/2021 09:28:17 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	4849 label Biography information for Alex Davies-Jones

1257700

registered interest
date	02/12/2020
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Internet: Disinformation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make it his policy to introduce financial penalties for companies that allow misinformation about vaccines to be spread on their platforms; and if he will set up a taskforce to tackle online vaccine misinformation.
tabling member constituency	Warrington North
tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
uin	124329
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/12/2020 answer text <p>The Government takes the issue of misinformation and disinformation very seriously and is working closely with social media platforms to help them identify and take action to remove incorrect claims about the virus, particularly around the potential Covid-19 vaccine in line with their revised terms and conditions, and to promote authoritative sources of information.</p><p>The Cross-Whitehall Counter Disinformation Unit was stood up on 5 March 2020, bringing together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities. Its primary function is to provide a comprehensive picture of the extent, scope and the reach of disinformation and misinformation linked to Covid-19, and to work with partners to stamp it out.</p><p>At a joint roundtable hosted by the DCMS and DHSC Secretaries of State in November, Social media platforms agreed to continue to work with public health bodies to ensure that authoritative messages about vaccine safety reach as many people as possible; to commit to swifter responses to flagged content and to commit to the principle that no user or company should directly profit from COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation. This work is being taken forward through an ongoing counter-disinformation policy forum which brings together platforms, civil society organisations and academia.</p><p>The Online Harms White Paper highlighted disinformation as potentially being in scope of the regulatory framework, and set out a list of potential steps that platforms could take ahead of regulation. Further details about how the legislation and the regulator will tackle disinformation will be published in the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper. The regulator will have strong enforcement powers to deal with non-compliance, including the power to issue notices, warnings and fines.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 14/12/2020 14:25:19 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1178432

registered interest
date	13/02/2020
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Internet: Disinformation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to stop the spread of misinformation online.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	1979
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2020 answer text <p>The Government takes misinformation online seriously and is undertaking work to tackle this and the related issue of online disinformation. The Government’s view is that in order to reduce the potential impact of disinformation (and misinformation), we must take account not only of the actors involved, but of the environment that enables them to spread and amplify falsehoods, and the audience that they reach.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>On 12 February the Government published its Initial Consultation Response to the Online Harms White Paper. The response sets out our direction of travel on a number of key areas, and confirmed that a media literacy strategy will be published in Summer 2020. This strategy will aim to support citizens in thinking critically about material they come across online. The Government is also taking action to increase public awareness with the ‘Don’t Feed The Beast’ campaign. This aims to educate and empower those who see, inadvertently share and are affected by false and misleading information.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Initial Consultation Response also announced that we are minded to appoint Ofcom as the regulator for online harms, and provided details on the proposed approach of the regulator. Further detail on proposals on online harms regulation will be released in the spring.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 25/02/2020 17:18:23 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah