Government to launch fake news rapid response unit

The government will create a ‘rapid response’ team to combat fake news.



Based in the Cabinet Office, the unit’s slated purpose is to combat disinformation spread online and reclaim a ‘fact-based public debate’.

The measure was announced by Alex Aiken, executive director of the Government Communication Service (GCS) in an article for PR Week.

Mr Aiken listed the measure as one of the GCS’s eight challenges for 2018. However, no firm details about the unit have been set out by the government.

‘We are seeing changes in the way information is being processed and shared - a tech savvy but disparate audience hungry for information and influenced by a small number of dominant opinion formers in the public eye’ he said.

‘The real test for government communications is being nimble enough to respond to the many challenges thrown at it while remaining a reliable source of information.’