COVID-19: Labour demands emergency law to stamp out anti-vax content on social media

Anti-vaccination content should be “stamped-out” on social media, Labour has said.

With hopes rising of a COVID-19 jab being rolled out by the end of the year, the opposition has called for emergency legislation to “stamp out dangerous anti-vax content”.

The party wants the government to bring forward legislation that would include financial and criminal penalties for companies that fail to act against such content.

Labour has claimed dedicated anti-vaccination groups with, hundreds of thousands of members on social media, are “churning out disinformation” on the issue.

Shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens and shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth have written to Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden insisting that the “spread of disinformation online presents a real and present danger” to vaccination efforts.Advertisement

Ms Stevens said: “The government has a pitiful track record on taking action against online platforms that are facilitating the spread of disinformation.

“It has been clear for years that this is a widespread and growing problem and the government knows, because Labour has been warning them for some time, that it poses a real threat to the take up of the vaccine.