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1582872

registered interest
date	01/02/2023
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	Social Media: 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 the Government is taking to support social media companies in tackling fake news on their platforms.
tabling member constituency	Solihull
tabling member printed	Julian Knight
uin	137893
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2023 answer text <p>The DCMS Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU) works to understand the scope, scale and reach of disinformation in the UK and works with social media platforms to tackle it.</p><p>The Government regularly meets with a range of social media platforms to aid our understanding of the spread of misinformation and disinformation on their services, including new and emerging narratives, and the range of steps they are taking to address this. This work includes encouraging platforms to ensure that their Terms of Service (ToS), policies and enforcement are fit for purpose, whilst still respecting freedom of expression. The primary purpose of the team is not to spot every instance of disinformation across all social media platforms. However, when the team does identify particular pieces of harmful content which may violate platforms’ Terms of Service, these are referred to the relevant platform for consideration, who in turn decide what action to take.</p><p>Under the Online Safety Bill, all social media companies subject to the safety duties will be required to take measures to remove illegal misinformation and disinformation once they become aware of it. The Foreign Interference Offence, brought forward in the National Security Bill, will also be designated a priority offence requiring companies to take proactive action against state-sponsored disinformation that is of most concern.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully question first answered 07/02/2023 16:59:13 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight

1549425

registered interest
date	07/12/2022
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	Social Media: 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 her Department is taking to help ensure that social media companies prevent misinformation on their platforms.
tabling member constituency	Warrington North
tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
uin	105511
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2022 answer text <p>Under the Online Safety Bill, all social media companies subject to the safety duties will be forced to take measures to remove illegal content online that is in scope of the Bill, including illegal misinformation and disinformation once they become aware of it. In addition, if a social media platform is likely to be accessed by children, they will have to protect them from a wide range of harmful content including misinformation and disinformation.</p><p>We are already working closely with the major social media platforms to encourage them to cooperate at speed to swiftly remove disinformation and coordinated inauthentic or manipulated behaviour, as per their Terms of Service.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully question first answered 15/12/2022 14:35:38 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1523802

registered interest
date	18/10/2022
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	Social Media: 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, pursuant to the answer of 11 October to Question 53272 on Social Media: Disinformation, how many times the Counter Disinformation Unit team has referred content to social media platforms in each year since the Unit was set up; and to which companies the content was referred.
tabling member constituency	Haltemprice and Howden
tabling member printed	Mr David Davis
uin	65587
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2022 answer text <p>The primary purpose of the Counter Disinformation Unit is not to spot every instance of disinformation across all social media platforms, but rather to understand overall trends and coordinated attempts to artificially manipulate the information environment. When the Unit does identify particular pieces of harmful content which may violate platforms’ terms of service these are referred to the relevant platform for consideration, who in turn decide what action to take.</p><p>As an operational matter it is not appropriate for the government to publicly provide details of content reported to platforms as doing so would give malign actors insight into our capabilities.</p> answering member constituency Folkestone and Hythe answering member printed Damian Collins question first answered 27/10/2022 07:01:41 answering member 3986 label Biography information for Damian Collins
tabling member	373 label Biography information for Sir David Davis

1507349

registered interest
date	21/09/2022
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	Social Media: 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 she will publish a list of the occasions when her Department's Counter Disinformation Cell has requested social media platforms remove posts from their platforms and what the grounds were for classifying the posted information as disinformation.
tabling member constituency	Haltemprice and Howden
tabling member printed	Mr David Davis
uin	53272
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/10/2022 answer text <p>The Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. The Counter Disinformation Unit team, based in DCMS, works to understand the scope, scale and reach of disinformation and works with a range of partners, including social media platforms, to tackle it.</p><p>The primary purpose of the team is not to spot every instance of disinformation across all social media platforms, but rather to understand overall trends and coordinated attempts to artificially manipulate the information environment. When the Unit does identify particular pieces of harmful content which may violate platforms’ terms of service these are referred to the relevant platform for consideration, who in turn decide what action to take.</p><p>As an operational matter it is not appropriate for the government to publicly provide details of content reported to platforms as doing so would give malign actors insight into our capabilities.</p> answering member constituency Folkestone and Hythe answering member printed Damian Collins question first answered 11/10/2022 08:04:33 answering member 3986 label Biography information for Damian Collins
tabling member	373 label Biography information for Sir David Davis

1504928

registered interest
date	05/09/2022
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	Social Media: 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, how many times Government teams tackling disinformation have reported content or user accounts to social media providers in the past 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Pontypridd
tabling member printed	Alex Davies-Jones
uin	47705
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/09/2022 answer text <p>The Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. The Counter Disinformation Unit team, based in DCMS, works to understand the scope, scale and reach of disinformation and works with a range of partners, including social media platforms, to tackle it.</p><p>The primary purpose of the team is not to spot every instance of disinformation across all social media platforms, but rather to understand overall trends and coordinated attempts to artificially manipulate the information environment. When the Unit does identify particular pieces of harmful content which may violate platforms’ terms of service these are referred to the relevant platform for consideration, who in turn decide what action to take.</p><p>As an operational matter it is not appropriate for the government to publicly provide details of content reported to platforms as doing so would give malign actors insight into our capabilities.</p> answering member constituency Folkestone and Hythe answering member printed Damian Collins grouped question UIN 47706 question first answered 20/09/2022 08:57:01 answering member 3986 label Biography information for Damian Collins
tabling member	4849 label Biography information for Alex Davies-Jones

1504929

registered interest
date	05/09/2022
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	Social Media: 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 proportion of reports about content or user accounts made to social media providers by Government units established to tackle disinformation resulted in action being taken by the social media providers in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Pontypridd
tabling member printed	Alex Davies-Jones
uin	47706
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/09/2022 answer text <p>The Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. The Counter Disinformation Unit team, based in DCMS, works to understand the scope, scale and reach of disinformation and works with a range of partners, including social media platforms, to tackle it.</p><p>The primary purpose of the team is not to spot every instance of disinformation across all social media platforms, but rather to understand overall trends and coordinated attempts to artificially manipulate the information environment. When the Unit does identify particular pieces of harmful content which may violate platforms’ terms of service these are referred to the relevant platform for consideration, who in turn decide what action to take.</p><p>As an operational matter it is not appropriate for the government to publicly provide details of content reported to platforms as doing so would give malign actors insight into our capabilities.</p> answering member constituency Folkestone and Hythe answering member printed Damian Collins grouped question UIN 47705 question first answered 20/09/2022 08:57:01 answering member 3986 label Biography information for Damian Collins
tabling member	4849 label Biography information for Alex Davies-Jones

1355158

registered interest
date	13/09/2021
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	Social Media: 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 the Government is taking to prevent companies and organisations using automated social media accounts to (a) increase follower numbers on social media platforms and (b) spread disinformation online.
tabling member constituency	Brent Central
tabling member printed	Dawn Butler
uin	48164
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/09/2021 answer text <p>The government continues to put pressure on companies to respond quickly and effectively to the threat posed by misinformation and disinformation.</p><p> </p><p>Ministers and officials hold regular discussions with major social media companies to understand what is happening on their platforms and the steps that they are taking to address misinformation and disinformation, including where it is spread by fake accounts.</p><p> </p><p>We have seen positive steps by platforms to curtail the spread of harmful and misleading narratives, particularly in relation to COVID-19, although there is clearly more to do. We will continue to engage platforms regarding measures that could be put in place to respond to this evolving challenge, and we will put pressure on these companies to ensure that their policies and enforcement are fit for purpose, whilst still respecting freedom of expression.</p><p> </p><p>The draft Online Safety Bill sets out proposals to impose a new duty of care on tech companies to tackle illegal and harmful content on their services. To fulfil their duty of care, the largest social media companies will need to set out what harmful content is and is not acceptable in their terms of service. They will need to enforce these terms of service consistently, including policies that may relate to fake user accounts. Ofcom will have the power to hold companies to account if what is appearing on their platforms doesn’t match up with the promises made to users.</p><p><strong></strong><br><br></p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 48165 question first answered 27/09/2021 08:44:28 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	1489 label Biography information for Dawn Butler

1355159

registered interest
date	13/09/2021
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	Social Media: 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 the Government is taking to work with social media companies to eliminate automated fake profiles on social media platforms.
tabling member constituency	Brent Central
tabling member printed	Dawn Butler
uin	48165
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/09/2021 answer text <p>The government continues to put pressure on companies to respond quickly and effectively to the threat posed by misinformation and disinformation.</p><p> </p><p>Ministers and officials hold regular discussions with major social media companies to understand what is happening on their platforms and the steps that they are taking to address misinformation and disinformation, including where it is spread by fake accounts.</p><p> </p><p>We have seen positive steps by platforms to curtail the spread of harmful and misleading narratives, particularly in relation to COVID-19, although there is clearly more to do. We will continue to engage platforms regarding measures that could be put in place to respond to this evolving challenge, and we will put pressure on these companies to ensure that their policies and enforcement are fit for purpose, whilst still respecting freedom of expression.</p><p> </p><p>The draft Online Safety Bill sets out proposals to impose a new duty of care on tech companies to tackle illegal and harmful content on their services. To fulfil their duty of care, the largest social media companies will need to set out what harmful content is and is not acceptable in their terms of service. They will need to enforce these terms of service consistently, including policies that may relate to fake user accounts. Ofcom will have the power to hold companies to account if what is appearing on their platforms doesn’t match up with the promises made to users.</p><p><strong></strong><br><br></p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 48164 question first answered 27/09/2021 08:44:28 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	1489 label Biography information for Dawn Butler

1345322

registered interest
date	08/07/2021
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	Social Media: 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 with social media companies to tackle fake social media profiles that spread misinformation and are operated from hostile states.
tabling member constituency	Lewisham East
tabling member printed	Janet Daby
uin	29899
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2021 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p>We take the issue of dis- and misinformation very seriously and DCMS leads work across Government to tackle it. We engage regularly with social media companies to encourage the introduction of systems and processes that promote authoritative sources of information, and to help them identify and take action to remove dis- and misinformation, in line with their terms and conditions.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>It is a Government priority to protect the UK against foreign interference. We know that certain states routinely use disinformation as a foreign policy tool and have seen evidence of this happening in other countries. We monitor for disinformation campaigns so that we can be ready to respond to them quickly and effectively. We work closely with international partners to share information to better understand and then develop approaches to counter the threat from disinformation.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Government is legislating on these issues. The Counter State Threats Bill will provide the Security Services and Law Enforcement Agencies with the tools they need to tackle the evolving threat from hostile activity by states and actors. The legislation will make the UK a harder environment for states to conduct hostile activity in, and increase the cost to them of doing so.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>We have also published the draft Online Safety Bill, which will bring in a legal duty of care and give companies clear legal responsibilities to improve user safety. The new laws will have robust and proportionate measures to deal with disinformation that could cause significant physical or psychological harm to an individual, such as anti-vaccination content and falsehoods about COVID-19.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 16/07/2021 10:51:56 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	4698 label Biography information for Janet Daby

1307823

registered interest
date	12/04/2021
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	Social Media: 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 he is taking to reduce misinformation on social media.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	178817
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/04/2021 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> </p><p>We are working with social media platforms to support the introduction of systems and processes that promote authoritative sources of information, and to help them identify and take action to remove misinformation, in line with their terms and conditions.</p><p> </p><p>We have seen positive steps taken by social media platforms to curtail the spread of harmful and misleading narratives related to Covid-19 and promote the Government and NHS messaging on the matter. However, there is clearly more to do, and we will continue to put pressure on platforms to ensure that their policies and enforcement are fit for purpose, whilst still respecting freedom of expression.</p><p> </p><p>The Online Safety Bill will bring in a new legal duty of care on how online companies will work in practice, giving them new responsibilities towards their users. The Bill will tackle dangerous disinformation and misinformation, such as misleading content about coronavirus vaccines, and will help bridge the gap between what companies say they do to address harmful content, and what happens in practice.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 16/04/2021 13:42:41 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman