Article by Mike Wright for the Daily Telegraph - published 12 January 2021 Online harms laws are at risk of being watered down in US trade negotiations, two former culture secretaries have warned the Government. Jeremy Wright and Karen Bradley have put their names to a letter calling on Liz Truss, the International Trade Secretary, to […]
Article by Hannah Boland for the Daily Telegraph - published 11 January 2020 Social media firms can no longer shun responsibility for what is posted on their sites after banning Donald Trump and face an inevitable crackdown, former digital ministers have said. Companies including Twitter, Facebook and Snap last week took action to silence the […]
Article by Jack Malvern for The Times - published 11 January 2021 The decision by social media giants to ban President Trump raises a “very big question” over how they are regulated, Matt Hancock has said. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram blocked Mr Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed the US Capitol last week. Mr Hancock, the health […]
Article by Paul Francis for KentOnline - published 7 January 2021 A Kent MP is calling on social media companies to ban accounts that incite violence and spread disinformation in the wake of the Trump riots. Folkestone and Hythe Tory Damian Collins, a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, believes online platforms […]
Article by Mark Duell and Martin Robinson for MailOnline - published 15 December 2020 Facebook should not be trusted with protecting UK users when their data is moved to its US headquarters after Brexit because the social network is more interested in profits than privacy, a leading Tory told MailOnline today. Damian Collins, former chairman […]
Article by Sam Williams for KentOnline - published 14 December 2020 Concerns have been raised following claims eight asylum seekers have disappeared from military barracks. Around 400 people - all adult men - are currently being housed at the Napier Barracks in Folkestone, which has been transformed into a temporary dispersal facility by the Home Office. […]
Article by Sam Williams for KentOnline - published 9 December 2020 Fears have been raised over how disinformation being spread on social media could dissuade some people from taking the record-breaking Covid-19 vaccine. Damian Collins, MP for Folkestone and Hythe, says it will be 'a matter of personal choice' whether people accept the vaccine or not, but he hopes […]
Article by Joe Wright for KentOnline - published 9 December 2020 MPs are urgently calling on the government to provide a £400 million boost to improve the scandal-hit East Kent Hospitals Trust. In a letter penned to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, they stress the state of healthcare is "impossible" to turn around unless given a significant […]
Article by Matthew Chapman for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism - published 8 December 2020 Mark Zuckerberg threatened to pull Facebook’s investment from the UK in a private meeting with Matt Hancock, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism can reveal. The minutes, from May 2018, show that an obsequious Hancock was eager to please, offering “a […]
Article by Sarah Marsh for The Guardian - published 7 December 2020 TikTok has launched an investigation and banned some search terms after the Guardian found harmful pro-anorexia content was still easily searchable despite measures taken by the social media company to prohibit the advertising of weight-loss products. The video app – one of the […]