Damian Collins, the chairman of the parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport sub committee is a born crusader. A blue-suited bruiser who has locked horns with Dominic Cummings, Jeremy Kyle and Aaron Banks, Collins is a vocal proponent of tighter online regulation, he believes social media companies should provide more information about who controls popular online groups and channels, and should be made to step in when “known lies” are spread.
Facebook in particular has come under his committee's scrutiny amid concerns that Russia used the platform to influence the 2016 Brexit referendum and the many vagaries of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Last year Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg was summoned to appear before the committee but refused. Collins responded by sending the sergeant at arms to the hotel room of a software executive and seizing relevant emails from the man's laptop.
Currently on the stump fighting to retain his Folkstone constituency in this interview with Jericho's Matthew Gwyther Collins reveals what he'd do to put the "digital gangsters" in their place.
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