Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to tackle online disinformation disseminated by (a) hostile states and (b) people acting on behalf of hostile states.

The Government takes the issue of information threats to national security very seriously, including disinformation and misinformation.

The Online Safety Act, which received Royal Assent in October 2023, has added the Foreign Interference Offence as a priority offence. This will mean that platforms will have a legal duty to take proactive, preventative action to identify and minimise their users’ exposure to state-sponsored disinformation and other types of state-backed influence operations aimed at interfering with UK society. The offence will capture conduct which has been carried out for, on behalf of, or with the intent to benefit, a foreign power.

My officials and I also meet regularly with a range of social media platforms and international partners to aid our understanding of the spread of disinformation online and work underway to address this.