Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the tools available to verify election-related content.

We have a tradition of robust political debate and freedom of speech in our democracy. Policy or political arguments - both online and offline - which can be rebutted by rival campaigners or the press as part of the normal course of political debate should not be regulated. It is a matter for voters to decide whether they consider such arguments/claims to be accurate.

The new digital imprints regime, introduced by the Elections Act 2022, will increase the transparency of digital political advertising, by requiring those promoting eligible digital campaigning material targeted at the UK electorate to include an imprint with their name and address.

We are working to ensure we are ready to respond to the full range of threats to our democratic processes, including through the Defending Democracy Taskforce, and the Government regularly meets with social media companies to understand the policies and processes they have in place.