Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to include media literacy programmes in (a) local and (b) regional strategies.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology coordinates media literacy activity across government, aiming to embed media literacy in cross-cutting strategies.
Government is adopting a holistic approach to digital inclusion, integrating related policy on digital skills and media literacy. The Digital Inclusion Action Plan outlines steps towards delivering digital inclusion for everyone in the UK, including supporting community initiatives to boost digital skills and media literacy.
Under updated media literacy duties, Ofcom is also developing a ‘place-based’ model to embed media literacy into community digital strategies, working with the Good Things Foundation to support Digital Inclusion Hubs with media literacy.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to tackle health misinformation.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Online Safety Act, companies must remove illegal health mis- and disinformation content if they become aware of it on their services. This includes content amounting to the False Communications offence, capturing communications where the sender knows information to be false but sends it intending to cause significant harm: such as encouraging drinking bleach to cure flu. If a service is likely to be accessed by children, it will have to protect them from encountering harmful health mis- and disinformation.
The Act will also require large platforms to remove health misinformation if it’s prohibited in their terms of service.