Consultation response form Confidentiality

In particular, we have fundamental concerns about the potential covert targeting of individuals to “navigate the challenges of mis and disinformation.” The proposal also raises questions about who will carry out this targeted messaging, the content of any messages and which individuals will be targeted on the basis that they belong to a ‘vulnerable cohort.’ Last year, Big Brother Watch published a. [...] The unit’s commissioning of community groups to artificially elevate certain narratives, whilst maintaining the veneer of authenticity, only served to damage trust and weaken the influence of these organisations in the long-term. [...] If this is conducted in the absence of transparency, there is a risk that such collaborations would result in a Question Your response loss of faith in the independence of the groups commissioned. [...] On 8 February 2021, the platform announced that it would remove “debunked claims about the coronavirus Question Your response and vaccines.”5 This included the claim that COVID-19 was man-made or manufactured and resulted in the removal and censorship of online expression that considered the origins of COVID-19. [...] Paragraph 1 of the Best Practice Principles recommends “on-platform interventions… as part of preventative strategies in addressing potential harms.” For the reasons stated above, we oppose the adoption of an approach which could have some bearing on the right to freedom of expression or the free flow of information.