Vaccine Misinformation Online
Debate between Chris Elmore and Jim Shannon(3 years, 6 months ago)
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Chris Elmore
I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. I have been contacted by other Members who could not attend this evening. My hon. Friend the Member for Bristol West (Thangam Debbonaire) has received correspondence from parents saying that they will not have the MMR, for reasons that can only be deemed to be false. As I said to the hon. Member for Totnes (Anthony Mangnall) and as I am sure the Minister will say, it is perfectly legitimate to question vaccines. What is not legitimate is to base views on falsehoods. My hon. Friend the Member for Newport West (Ruth Jones) is quite right, through her professional career before coming to this place, that catching measles can have a long-term negative impact.
With the benefit of foresight, and given the additional oxygen that the wild, ill-informed and baseless conspiracy theories will inevitably continue to receive over the next six months, the Government must bring forward a holistic cross-Government plan to counter this growing movement and bring the social media giants to heel. The anti-vax movement is nothing new—in fact, it has been around since the days of smallpox—but what we must not lose sight of in 2020 is the exponential levels of oxygen that the internet and in particular social media platforms give to such damaging falsehoods. As chair of the all-party group on social media, I have been keenly following the activities of various platforms since the pandemic began. It must be said that many sites have been doing some really positive work to try to promote reliable sources of information at a time when the need to tackle misinformation could scarcely be more crucial. Yet what many of the social media giants are repeatedly failing to do is proactively take down the burgeoning levels of misinformation about coronavirus vaccines spread on their platforms.
Anti-vax misinformation may not be displayed on billboards around the country, but growing evidence suggests it is starting to reach and influence as many people as if it were. We have already seen this digital pandemic spilling out on to our streets. The frankly scary protests we are seeing in ever greater numbers should alarm us all and underline the need for decisive action.
Jim Shannon
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on bringing forward this topical and pertinent issue. The Centre for Countering Digital Hate says that 31% of the British public would be hesitant to have a coronavirus vaccine if one becomes available. Does he not agree that that is incredibly disheartening? The Government must wholeheartedly, with transparent information, enter into this online debate now before people’s minds are warped by anti-vaxxers who have had success in seeing MMR take-up drop from 95% to 87%. We cannot allow them to take hold of the coronavirus debate, given the massive consequences for the general public right across the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Chris Elmore
I thank the hon. Gentleman. I have done significant work with the CCDH over recent months to try to look at this very issue. He may have taken my very next sentence almost word for word—would you believe it, Mr Deputy Speaker?—so I will not repeat it, but I agree with him. The serious point is that we need to tackle the issue now, through Members of Parliament, the Government, the official Opposition and the smaller parties, such as the one he represents. We all have a duty in this House to make sure we get the truth out about vaccine development and all its benefits.
Online vaccine misinformation is not merely a risk to those individuals who will not be vaccinated; it presents a risk to each and every one of our constituents and their loved ones, as the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) said. The CCDH’s study showed that anti-vax social media accounts have 58 million followers, and that number is growing rapidly. The 147 largest accounts have amassed more than 7.8 million new followers since 2019, representing a staggering increase of 19%.
Facebook is overwhelmingly the leading host of such potentially dangerous information, but that platform is by no means alone. Across YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and various other popular social media sites, this virus of misinformation now presents a real threat to our ability to control the real and deadly coronavirus. It is clear that that is borne out in our communities. Research from the Royal Society for Public Health shows that as many as two in five parents with children under 18 in the UK have reported exposure to negative messages about vaccination online sometimes or often.
The problem did not arise overnight, yet it is exponentially on the rise and has, in part, been fuelled by many oxygenators in the public eye. The list of celebrities who have shared anti-vax content or their anti-vax views online grows painfully longer as we continue to respond to this crisis—Madonna, Lewis Hamilton, Novak Djokovic and Kanye West are just some of the biggest names with the largest followings. When we delve deeper into this web, the number of influential people helping to propagate at best ill-informed and at worst downright conspiracy theorist nonsense is truly alarming. I know that several celebrities have since clarified their stance after public pressure, but that is often when much of the damage has already been done. It is not surprising that the World Health Organisation found last year that vaccine hesitancy was one of the top 10 threats to global public health.
Politicians have a role too, of course. It is not useful to have a President of the United States who increasingly gives the impression that he is rushing to approve a vaccine for political expediency, rather than purely for the sake of public health. That only further corrodes trust in the international scientific community, who I have no doubt are working with the utmost integrity and precision. That shows why the rigorous process through which a vaccine receives approval urgently needs to be better communicated to the public. People need to feel reassured about the safeguards that are in place to ensure that new treatments and vaccines meet robust national and international standards. Ministers say that they are doing that, but this strategy is being enveloped in the increasingly chaotic communications that emanate from No. 10 and right across Government.
I have seen how challenging messaging on this issue can be. Since repeatedly raising issues around anti-vaxxers in this place and beyond, I have received countless messages from people actively promoting the conspiracy theories. At one point, there was even a suggestion that I was no better than the Nazis. For me, that has only underlined how important it is that we take much firmer action to counter much of the ill-informed nonsense we see online.
As I have repeatedly said, the social media giants are largely failing proactively to take down the burgeoning levels of misinformation about coronavirus vaccines that is shared and promoted on their platforms. I welcome Facebook’s decision last week to ban anti-vax adverts from its platform, but that plainly does not go far enough. We are now seven months into this pandemic, and Facebook has continually dragged its feet on anti-vax misinformation. Banning ads alone will not starve the many anti-vax Facebook groups of the oxygen they thrive on. The fact that Mark Zuckerberg is still willing to trouser money from ads that push back against Government policies that promote vaccines underlines just how much further we have to go. Mr Zuckerberg has said that Facebook will not actively take down all anti-vax misinformation. For me, that would represent a breach of the statutory duty of care that the Government’s new legislation is set to impose on the tech giants next year.
As has become typical with Mr Zuckerberg, instead of providing clear leadership and action, he is offering mere qualification and dangerous prevarication. If he does so because of financial concerns, that is shameful. If he does so because he actually believes it, that is terrifying. It is pleasing to see that Facebook, Twitter and others are starting to hide posts with warnings when claims are disputed or palpably false. I firmly believe that regardless of who has posted the content, they should continue do so without fear or favour. Whether it is posted by Presidents, F1 drivers or Joe Bloggs from No. 73, this poison of misinformation must be countered before it is allowed to become yet more potent.
I know that the Government have held meetings with representatives from the social media companies on this issue, and I would be grateful if the Minister could outline the outcome of those discussions. In July, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care met Sir Nick Clegg—formerly of this parish, and now Facebook’s vice-president for global affairs and communications—about this issue. I have repeatedly asked for clarity about the outcome of that meeting. I have been told by the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds (Jo Churchill), via written questions that a “wide-ranging discussion” took place and that the Government are working with Facebook to
“promote positive messages about vaccination.”
Today, I ask the Minister to go into more detail about that wide-ranging discussion and the precise firm commitments that were made. In particular, was section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act 1996 discussed? What changes, other than those that I have stated, has Facebook implemented since that meeting?
Social media companies can do more. Only this week, YouTube updated its medical misinformation policy and now prohibits content that includes claims about covid-19 vaccinations that contradict expert consensus, local health authorities or the World Health Organisation. For example, content claiming that a vaccine will kill people or implant a microchip in a recipient’s body will be removed under the expanded policy.
YouTube says it has done that to allow it to take robust action should anti-vaccination conspiracy theories continue to grow as progress towards a potential vaccine is made. Of course, we will have to see how proactively it is enforced, but it is a really welcome step that will help to dilute the deluge of misinformation that is plaguing many platforms. I commend YouTube for its action and I urge the other big players to follow its lead and go further where necessary.
Misinformation is just one of the many dangers that people face online, which is why I have been calling for Government action on online harms since I first set up the APPG in 2018. The online harms White Paper is certainly a step in the right direction, but the pandemic has underlined how delaying the legislation only allows pent-up problems to deepen before our very eyes.
We know that social media giants will not adopt the changes that we all need without them being written into law, so why are we waiting so long for that to happen? Social media platforms need to have a statutory duty of care for their users, and people must be provided with the same level of safety online as offline, but the changes that the Government will hopefully implement in the coming months cannot stop there. Ministers must establish a social media health alliance to fund research and education initiatives and establish clearer guidance for the public.
When we consider how quickly technology and social media have changed in the past decade, we can imagine how unrecognisable they could be by 2025, 2030 or further in the future. Funding research through a health alliance would us help to stay ahead of the game and aware of any emerging threats, and it would give us much needed time to take action. No hon. Member would say that cyber-space has not rapidly got out of control. That wild west will continue to grow yet wilder unless we fund vital research foresight.
We do not have to fund it, however. Again, that is where social media giants need to be made to step up and fulfil their moral responsibilities. The alliance can be funded by, say, a small 0.5% levy on the profits that social media platforms make. Social media users generate multimillion-pound profits for the tech giants every year; the least they can do is reinvest a negligible portion of their prosperity to help to improve the health, well-being and safety of their customers.
What else can the Government do? I understand that the Cabinet Office is working closely with the WHO and academics from the University of Cambridge to help to counter some of the antivax discourse, and I am aware that there are already some good examples of the Government trying to do this. The University of Cambridge’s new Go Viral! game, supported by the Cabinet Office, aims to help the public to better understand the techniques used to spread fake news and to identify and disregard misinformation related to the coronavirus pandemic. That is a good individual example of how communications can be tailored to different audiences to help to counter misinformation about vaccines and covid-19 more widely, but the Government need many more examples that are suitable for a range of audiences and much more widely promoted.
It would be useful if the Minister gave the House an update on that work and detail what practical steps the Government are putting in place to ensure that the issue is being taken seriously. I know that the Department is working with Public Health England, NHS Improvement and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on those issues, but I would like to hear more about what the Government are doing with the devolved Administrations.
The WHO calls the three key components that contribute to a decision not to vaccinate the three c’s: confidence, complacency and convenience. There can be confidence in the safety and efficiency of a vaccine, but also in the system that regulates and provides it. Complacency happens because, due to the success of vaccination, many people do not have experience of diseases that vaccination prevents, such as polio or tuberculosis. Therefore, they underestimate the potential impact of catching the disease. Convenience includes factors such as the cost and ease of obtaining a vaccination. When the Minister responds, I would be grateful if she explained precisely how the Government are addressing each of the three c’s. If they are not, I would like her to explain why.
We have all seen how Government communications can reach a wide audience when the Government have the political will to give campaigns the resources they need, from “Get ready for Brexit” to “Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives”. Government information can reach a wide audience if Ministers put their minds to it, so today I am calling on the Minister to bring forward an holistic, six-month, cross-Government strategy to better inform the public about the vigorous clinical procedures that are being followed in approving any covid-19 vaccine. Whether it be through myth-busting or making the process more transparent to the public at large, the Government need to start getting back on the front foot. A tidal wave of misinformation has already arrived on our shores, and without a clear communication strategy in advance of providing an effective and safe vaccine, I fear that a further tsunami of anti-vax falsehoods will fatally undermine the public health and economic wellbeing of our country. The Government promised to do “whatever it takes” to help the British people through this crisis. We know the threat that these anti-vax falsehoods pose, and it is self-evident that Ministers must do whatever it takes to counter this damaging discourse. We can and must break the circuit of this digital pandemic. If we fail, yet more lives and livelihoods could be lost.
Cavity Wall Insulation: Complaints
Debate between Chris Elmore and Jim Shannon(4 years, 1 month ago)
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Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for allowing this debate to be held today. I thank the Members from across the House who have stayed to take part. I shall speak about a problem that affects thousands of people across the UK—some estimates suggest that the number could be up to 3 million. It is a problem that Members, including me, have raised with the Government, but as yet, the people affected have been given nothing by way of resolution.
Inappropriately fitted cavity wall insulation might, on the face of it, sound like an issue that could be down to just a few rogue traders, but given what we now know, it is time for the UK Government to come forward with a sensible package of support for people who have felt the blunt end of Government interventions gone wrong. The scale of the problem could not be more stark. In 2018, the BBC reported that industry insiders estimated that at least 800,000 properties have defective cavity wall insulation. I want to explain why the injustice that many people in my Ogmore constituency and across the UK face is another symptom of the gross inequality across our country. I also want to tell the House why I believe that we need a new, independent body to oversee cavity wall insulation claims if the current body, the Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency, is not able to do so.
From the outset, I want to make it clear that I am not against cavity wall insulation. If done properly, it is an efficient means of making our homes and other buildings more energy efficient, saving us power and helping to make the way we all live more sustainable. It can also help to reduce people’s energy bills—something that we all welcome, of course. In the light of the climate and environment emergency that we must address, only a fool would suggest we should not use all the tools at our disposal to make the way that we live less environmentally damaging. Cavity wall insulation can and should form part of this; that much is clear. What is less clear is what happens when our interventions bring about unforeseen consequences—unforeseen consequences that cause damage to people’s homes and leave them with a hefty repair bill.
As Members will know, most homes built before the 1970s had no form of insulation, and many were instead built with vast cavities within the external walls. Throughout the 1990s, as our awareness of energy efficiency and environmental issues expanded, the practice of retrofitting insulation in those wall cavities began to expand. Various Government schemes have followed, encouraging people living in energy-inefficient properties to have that work undertaken at a reduced or no cost to the homeowner.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way; I did speak to him beforehand. He has raised this issue on behalf of his constituents, and I now want, through him, to raise it on behalf of mine. Does he agree that, yet again, something that the Government intended to be of great use to our most vulnerable and to the environment has been abused, and that the case of his constituents—and a number of my constituents—has been replicated throughout the United Kingdom? Is it not therefore right and proper for an investigation to follow the trail of businesses that are no longer in operation to secure justice for those who have been taken advantage of, and who are worse off as a result?
Chris Elmore
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. Indeed, it would have been wrong for him not to intervene. I do agree with him: this is an appalling failure on the part of businesses.
I commend the basis of the Government schemes to which I referred. They were admirable in their intent—and, indeed, they still exist today—but it has now become clear that many properties that have been retrofitted with cavity wall insulation should never have been retrofitted in the first place, and that in many cases the works have been so shoddy that people have been left with significant damage to their homes.
Paediatric Cancers of the Central Nervous System
Debate between Chris Elmore and Jim Shannon(5 years, 6 months ago)
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Chris Elmore
I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. I pay tribute to him for the bravery that he and his wife, Rebecca, have shown over William. I am so pleased to see pictures of him now looking so well and on the road to recovery.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for bringing forward such an important issue as an Adjournment debate. We have some three hours to complete the debate, so he has tons of time. About 400 children are diagnosed with a central nervous system tumour in the UK each year, accounting for a quarter of all childhood cancer cases. Like the hon. Gentleman, I salute the doctors, nurses and carers for all the work that they do in looking after these children. Survival rates for other cancers have significantly increased in the past 50 years, but the same cannot be said for brain tumours. Many charities and research groups are working in collaboration to find a cure. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that more needs to be done to raise awareness, find a cure and ensure that parents are fully aware of the key signs and symptoms in babies and young children?
Chris Elmore
I agree entirely with the hon. Gentleman. I hope my speech will go some way to highlighting that more work is needed, and to paying tribute to parents and families who have lost children through this horrendous condition.
Cian was first diagnosed with an atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumour in 2015, when he was four years old. This type of tumour, often called an AT/RT, is a very rare and rapidly growing tumour of the central nervous system. Cian’s primary tumour was found on his spine, with seeds of the cancer also found in his brain. In the majority of cases, AT/RT is associated with a specific genetic mutation, INI1, which can occur spontaneously or be inherited. However, genetic testing in Cian’s instance did not indicate that he had this specific mutation. Cian’s tumour was located on his spine. AT/RTs are generally located anywhere in the brain, but are most commonly found in the cerebellum—the base of the brain—and in the brain stem, which is the part of the brain that controls basic body functions. The fact that Cian’s tumour bucked this trend made a difficult medical situation even more complex. AT/RT was previously thought to have been a type of medulloblastoma. However, it is now known that this is a totally different type of cancer and cannot therefore be treated via the same methods.
Mercifully, childhood cancer is rare in itself. The majority of children who are sadly subjected to this disease are diagnosed with a form of leukaemia. Brain tumours are much more rare, and AT/RTs make up only between 1% and 2% of these cases. I hope this illustrates just how tragic it was that Cian contracted not just cancer, but a cancer of the rarest of forms. This, however, is exactly why we have to do something. We have to do something to remember Cian and ensure that his legacy is that other families may be prevented from suffering a similar fate.