The Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

100 Parliament Street

London

SW1A 2BQ

Thursday 8^th August 2024

Our Ref: 20240808/JC

Dear Peter,

Re: Holding social media companies to account

In recent days we have all been shocked by the violent disorder seen around the country. Many communities are now scared of what lies ahead; our Muslim community in particular is fearful of these Islamophobic threats made against them.

Sadly, we know that social media has been used by the far-right to organise these riots and spread fake news. But far from putting a stop to this, some social media bosses are themselves fanning the flames of division. Elon Musk, owner of X, has used his platform to spread harmful misinformation and far-right conspiracy theories. To take just a few examples from the past few days, he has said that ‘civil war is inevitable’, labelled British police as ‘The Woke Stasi’, and shared a baseless fake news story invented by far-right group Britain First.

When the owners of these social media companies are themselves engaging in dangerous conspiracy theories, we cannot hold out any hope that they will tackle misinformation on their platforms by their own accord.

Therefore, I welcome the recent steps you have taken to hold the social media giants to account and force them to take action. I wholeheartedly agree with you that people spreading hate online should have nowhere to hide; I believe this should be a basic condition for social media companies to operate in the UK.

I do not underestimate the difficulty in building an effective regulatory framework for social media companies; we must always ensure that freedom of speech is protected while we tackle dangerous hate speech and misinformation. Adding to the complexity is the fact that these companies operate around the world. However, action can and must be taken. I welcome the renewed focus that you have put into this area and urge you to continue to use the full power of Government to end the regulatory Wild West social media companies currently enjoy.

With communities up and down the country bracing under the threat of more violent disorder, it is beholden on us to do all we can to keep people safe. Tackling hate speech and misinformation on social media is a major part of that and you have my full support in making this happen.

Yours sincerely,

Gill Furniss MP

Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough