Article written for the Daily Mail - published 23 February 2021 This is a battle we should have fought and won long ago. But now that the stakes have risen so high - with Facebook and the Australian government at war over the tech giant's refusal to pay for news content - we must all […]
Article written for PoliticsHome - published 21 February 2021 With a united voice, we must support the Australian government in the face of this bullying from Facebook. This week the attention of the tech policy world has been focused on the Australian House of Representatives, where Scott Morrison’s liberal-national government are in the final stages […]
Article written for the Daily Telegraph - published 18 January 2021 Facebook's decision to ban news media from its main platform in Australia is as dangerous as it is wrongheaded. In a world going through a public health emergency, people need access to the reliable and factual information that is provided by news publishers and organisations. […]
This week I met with the Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi, along with other Kent MPs and representatives from the Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group to discuss the delivery of the COVID vaccine in Kent. The government’s target is that everyone over the age of 70, and all those who are considered to be the […]
Article written for the Daily Telegraph - published 1 February 2021 Sir Nick Clegg has a bridge to sell America. Having spent most of his career, both as a British politician, and now as a spokesman for Facebook, suggesting he offers a unique middle way between two false alternatives, he is now pretending that his […]
Article written for the Times - published 8 January 2021 We should be shocked at the scenes in Washington DC, of protesters storming the Capitol building in order to try and stop Congress from validating the election of Joe Biden to be the next president. These are appalling scenes and an attack on a fair […]
Introductory remarks delivered to the 4th meeting of the International Grand Committee on disinformation and data privacy, 2 December 2020 Next year, the UK Parliament will debate a Government Bill to regulate Online Harms and establish that social media companies have a duty of care to their users, which includes the responsibility to act against […]
Article by Damian Collins MP and Stephen Kinnock MP for PoliticsHome - published 2 December 2020 We face new threats every day from the digital world, disinformation and fake news to dark ads and financial loopholes. As the Electoral Commission turns 20, we must make sure it’s fit to face the challenges of the future. […]
Written for The House Live / PoliticsHome. Published 18 November 2020 We need social media companies to work proactively to identify and remove harmful disinformation, including anti-vaccine conspiracy theories - not shirk this responsibility. The prospect of mass vaccination against the coronavirus is now close to being a reality, with the news that Pfizer and […]
Published in The Times on 15 October 2020 Last week was Journalism Matters Week – a timely reminder that independent, trusted news sources are crucial to a thriving democracy. But we need to make sure that journalists, producers and publishers get properly paid for their work if we don’t want to see more outlets fold […]