Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 26
26
Not Addressed
The Government must work with regional partners in Latin America to support independent media and...
Recommendation
The Government must work with regional partners in Latin America to support independent media and strengthen cooperation with trusted civil society organisations recognising that instability in Latin America directly affects UK diplomatic, trade and security interests and should not be treated as peripheral to the Government’s counter-FIMI strategy. The Government should ensure it has the required capacity to monitor the growing threat of foreign information manipulation and interference in the region. The Government should report to this Committee within six months on how it will strengthen UK monitoring, diplomatic engagement and democratic resilience partnerships in Africa, the Indo-Pacific, Europe and the Americas. (Recommendation, Paragraph 135) 87 FCDO’s approach to countering foreign information manipulation and interference
Government response summary AI-generated
The government responds by discussing the Online Safety Act, VPN usage, and transnational repression, but does not address the recommendation to work with regional partners in Latin America to support independent media, strengthen FIMI monitoring capacity, or report on diplomatic engagement in the specified regions.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
57. The global information environment is becoming increasingly contested. The information threats we face do not respect borders – the same malign actors employ similar tactics to target the UK and our international partners alike. 58. Responding to this challenge requires close coordination with partners across regions to identify malign information activity, tackle the networks responsible for this activity at source, and to strengthen our collective resilience. The FCDO has therefore been scaling up our response across geographies most affected by this activity. 59. The Government has so far prioritised action to tackle Russian FIMI targeting the UK and our European partners, in particular Ukraine, given the acuteness of the threat of Russian information warfare. However, the FCDO is also engaged in strengthening resilience to hostile information activity in Latin America. This includes utilising our internal analytical capabilities to monitor and identify FIMI activity in the region, alongside engagement with regional partners to strengthen their resilience to information threats. For example, the UK has funded civil society initiatives to strengthen media literacy and fact- checking skills, so organisations can spot false narratives and support democratic debate. The UK has likewise engaged directly with governments in the region to raise awareness of the threat. 5 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-sanctions-russian-spies-at-the-heart-of-putins- malicious-regime 60. This Government remains steadfast in our commitment to countering and reducing the impact of hostile information activity affecting our partners. We agree to update the Committee through a verbal briefing session on our international approach to monitoring, diplomatic engagement, and resilience building efforts in response to FIMI.
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