Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps she is taking to support national governments in Africa to tackle false information and fake news on social media platforms.

​We have no organised programmes helping African states with disinformation, although we would consider any specific requests for support.

HMG communications experts already work in Posts across Africa, supporting proactive and reactive media and communications activity in African countries. Over the coming months, we will hire more communications specialists to provide greater resource for proactive communications and campaigns in Africa. Such campaigns could be used to help counter misinformation, where needed.

The government is supporting BBC World Service to expand in Africa, including on digital platforms.