Oral Answers to Questions

Tristan Osborne Excerpts

Monday 15th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

Any attack on the police is utterly shameful. The right to peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy—it is a freedom that we protect fiercely—but Palestine Action’s activities have met the thresholds for proscription established in the Terrorism Act 2000. The organisation has conducted an escalating campaign, involving sustained criminal damage to national security infrastructure, intimidation and alleged violence, including the use of weapons resulting in serious injuries to individuals.

[Tristan Osborne (Chatham and Aylesford) (Lab)]

Weaponisation of social media has become a real cancer in our society, with MPs and others being targeted. What steps are the Government taking on hostile state threats on social media that might be being used to undermine our democracy?

[Dan Jarvis]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this. New and emerging artificial intelligence technology has the potential to amplify threats to democracy, including through hyper-realistic bots, which are used to spread disinformation and misinformation at speed. The Government are absolutely committed to addressing the threats, including by ensuring that social media platforms have the right systems in place to identify and tackle harmful material that breaches their terms of service.