Rio Ferdinand to give evidence to MPs and Peers about tackling online hate and racism

Rio Ferdinand will give evidence at Parliament this Thursday 9 September about his experiences of racism and abuse online.

He joins a host of expert witnesses who will discuss the lived experiences of online hate and give their views on improving the draft Online Safety Bill to a joint Committee of MPs and Peers chaired by Damian Collins MP. The Bill, published by the government in draft form in May 2021, is designed to establish a new regulatory framework to tackle harmful content online.

At 9.45am, Imran Ahmed, CEO of the think tank the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) will open the session by setting out some of the harms their organisation has uncovered through research on an international scale. He will also tell the committee why he thinks the bill does not go far enough to tackle online harms.

Then at 10.45am, former England international and football pundit Rio Ferdinand will be joined by the Chair of Kick It Out Sanjay Bhandari and Edleen John from the FA to discuss online racism against footballers and their measurement of the bill in tackling this issue.
Finally, at 11.30am, Nancy Kelley, the Chief Executive of Stonewall and Danny Stone MBE, the Director of the Antisemitism Policy Trust will share their views on how effective the Bill is when it comes to anti-LGBT and antisemitism online hate, in particular its relation to physical attacks.

Committee members

From the House of Commons:

• Damian Collins MP (Chair) (Con) former Chair of the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, and current Chair of the APPGs for Media Freedom and Media Literacy
• Debbie Abrahams MP (Lab) current member House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee
• Darren Jones MP (Lab) current Chair of the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, Co-chair, APPG Parliamentary Information, Communications and Technology Forum, Chair of the APPG on Technology and National Security and Chair of the APPG on Data Poverty
• John Nicolson MP (SNP) Shadow SNP Spokesperson for DCMS, current member House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Select Committee
• Dean Russell MP (Con) current member Joint Committee on Human Rights and House of Commons Select Committee on Health and Social Care, Chair of the APPG on Digital Health and the APPG on Digital IDs
• Suzanne Webb MP (Con) current member House of Commons Procedure Committee, PPS for Department for International Trade and Women and Equalities

From the House of Lords:

• Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab) current member House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee
• Lord Black of Brentwood (Con) current member House of Lords Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee
• Lord Clement-Jones (Lib Dem) Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson for Digital
• Baroness Kidron (Cross bench) current member of the House of Lords Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee
•  Lord Knight of Weymouth (Lab) current member House of Lords Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee
• Lord Gilbert of Panteg (Con) Chair of the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee