Oral Answers to Questions

Matt Vickers Excerpts
Monday 27th April 2020

(3 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Oliver Dowden Portrait Oliver Dowden
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My hon. Friend is, as always, absolutely right. At the roundtable I was clear that those platforms need to go further and faster to drown out disinformation and to help to spread vital public health messaging to stay at home. I have encouraged Twitter, and all platforms, to explore all the ways they can further limit the misinformation on them. That clearly means enforcing their own rules, which of course Twitter can do by removing verified status. I assure my hon. Friend that I shall watch his Select Committee discussion with the platforms with great interest.

Matt Vickers Portrait Matt Vickers (Stockton South) (Con)
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What steps his Department is taking to help ensure the sustainability of (a) civil society organisations and (b) charities affected by the covid-19 outbreak.

Oliver Dowden Portrait The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Oliver Dowden)
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Charities provide so much compassion and care to the most vulnerable in our country, and that role has never been more important than it is right now. In order to ensure that charities can continue their vital work in our national effort to fight the coronavirus, we announced a package of grants worth £750 million, alongside all the measures that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has already announced to support charities. That recognises the unique role of the sector in helping us through this crisis and bouncing back on the other side.