Oral Answers to Questions

Laura Trott Excerpts

Tuesday 19th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

Our vaccination programme has been one of the most successful in the world, and the right hon. Gentleman may know that it has prevented 24 million infections, has prevented some 230,000 people from being hospitalised and saved 130,000 lives. I do not call that a failure; I call it a success.

[Laura Trott (Sevenoaks) (Con)]

T2. Last week, a whistleblower told the American Congress that Facebook had repeatedly misled the public about the impact of its platform on children’s health. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is time for Facebook to be transparent about the impact of its platform, and to share with the public what it knows about the impact on children’s health?

[Sajid Javid]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and I thank her for raising this issue. I share those concerns. Over the past year, the number of young people being urgently referred for eating disorders has doubled. In the light of that, I was astonished to learn that one of Facebook’s own internal studies, which was brought to light by Ms Haugen, found that 17% of teen girls said that their eating disorders got worse after using Instagram. Facebook did not think it was appropriate to inform parents, healthcare professionals and legislators. I do think it is time for Facebook to do the right thing and publish what it knows.