Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many pieces of disinformation the Counter Disinformation Unit has reported to Facebook since 1 March 2020; and how many of those disinformation posts have subsequently been removed by Facebook.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been vitally important that the public has accurate information and DCMS is leading work across Government to tackle disinformation.
The Counter Disinformation Unit brings together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities. 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. It would not be appropriate for the Unit to provide a running commentary on the amount of misinformation/disinformation seen to date.
Throughout the pandemic, 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.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many pieces of disinformation the Counter Disinformation Unit has reported to TikTok since 1 March 2020; and how many of those disinformation posts have subsequently been removed by TikTok.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been vitally important that the public has accurate information and DCMS is leading work across Government to tackle disinformation.
The Counter Disinformation Unit brings together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities. 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. It would not be appropriate for the Unit to provide a running commentary on the amount of misinformation/disinformation seen to date.
Throughout the pandemic, 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.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many pieces of disinformation the Counter Disinformation Unit has reported to Twitter since 1 March 2020; and how many of those disinformation posts have subsequently been removed by Twitter.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been vitally important that the public has accurate information and DCMS is leading work across Government to tackle disinformation.
The Counter Disinformation Unit brings together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities. 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. It would not be appropriate for the Unit to provide a running commentary on the amount of misinformation/disinformation seen to date.
Throughout the pandemic, 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.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many pieces of disinformation the Counter Disinformation Unit has reported to YouTube since 1 March 2020; and how many of those disinformation posts have subsequently been removed by YouTube.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been vitally important that the public has accurate information and DCMS is leading work across Government to tackle disinformation.
The Counter Disinformation Unit brings together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities. 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. It would not be appropriate for the Unit to provide a running commentary on the amount of misinformation/disinformation seen to date.
Throughout the pandemic, 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.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many pieces of disinformation the Counter Disinformation Unit has reported to Instagram since 1 March 2020; and how many of those disinformation posts have subsequently been removed by Instagram.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been vitally important that the public has accurate information and DCMS is leading work across Government to tackle disinformation.
The Counter Disinformation Unit brings together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities. 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. It would not be appropriate for the Unit to provide a running commentary on the amount of misinformation/disinformation seen to date.
Throughout the pandemic, 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.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many pieces of disinformation the Counter Disinformation Unit has reported to Google since 1 March 2020; and how many of those disinformation posts have subsequently been removed by Google.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been vitally important that the public has accurate information and DCMS is leading work across Government to tackle disinformation.
The Counter Disinformation Unit brings together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities. 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. It would not be appropriate for the Unit to provide a running commentary on the amount of misinformation/disinformation seen to date.
Throughout the pandemic, 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.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings (a) he or (b) he and the Prime Minister has had with Lord Charles Moore in 2020; and on what dates those meetings took place.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Meetings with external organisations and individuals undertaken in a ministerial capacity are published on GOV.UK on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with (a) Apple, (b) Google (c) Microsoft and (d) Mozilla on (i) new DNS over HTTPS protocol and (ii) the online safety and security of UK citizens.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We are aware of ongoing developments relating to the DNS over HTTPS protocol and are working with industry and other key stakeholders to understand potential unintended consequences arising from its implementation.
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with industry and other stakeholders on a range of issues, including online safety. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of Apple's proposed decision to enable DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) in the upcoming updates for iOS and MacO on parents ability to keep their children safe online.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We are aware of ongoing developments relating to the DNS over HTTPS protocol and are working with industry and other key stakeholders to understand potential unintended consequences arising from its implementation. We are working closely with a wide range of relevant stakeholders to ensure that new technologies do not compromise the safety of children online.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the (a) UK online regulation framework and (b) effectiveness of UK online regulatory bodies of plans by (i) Apple, (ii) Microsoft and (iii) Google to enable DNS over HTTPS on their services and platforms.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
DCMS continues to monitor the DNS over HTTPS roll out of all key companies, including Apple, Microsoft and Google and its potential impact on proposals for a new Online Harms Regulatory Framework.
The Online Harms regulator will have a suite of powers to take effective enforcement action against companies that fail to fulfill their duty of care. We will set out further details in the full Government response later this year.