![]() ![]() So are the names of the individual attendees, other than three civil servants. Somewhat ironically, about a third of the six-page disclosure is so heavily redacted, it comprises pages of black.Ī section marked “Key points” is entirely blacked out. Delegates were clear that there should be “support and scope for greater efforts towards transparency and publicity”. There should be an “emphasis on importance of freedom of expression”, the document states, and on “ transparency”. It is also clear from the disclosure at least some were wary that their efforts to tackle misinformation should not tip over into censorship. This information is recorded in a memo of the meeting, obtained by the Big Brother Watch campaign group under freedom of information laws, and passed to this newspaper. There was “further work to do with decreasing vaccine hesitancy amongst black and minority ethnic communities”, and the Government’s last-minute decision to change the interval between doses was “starting to become an area for worries”. Together they formed the “Counter-Disinformation Policy Forum”.Ĭivil servants provided an update on how the national vaccine rollout was being received. There were also half a dozen academics and representatives of fact checking organisations and lobby groups such as Full Fact and the Center for Countering Digital Hate. Those present at the meeting included senior executives working for Google, Facebook and Twitter, as well as the BBC and Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator. The vaccination programme had just begun and the Government was relying on it to bring the country out of lockdown. It was already a “priority” and would remain one as the Covid-19 vaccination programme rolled out across Britain, she explained, “given the clear risk posed by anti-vaccination narratives”. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) had assembled 21 men and women, with the purpose – the chairman explained – of “addressing the threat posed by Covid-19 mis- and disinformation”. It was a drizzly January day and Britain was still in lockdown when the meeting was brought to order. ![]()
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