By james art 
Ms Badenoch, who held several ministerial posts during the pandemic, was questioned about her role as equalities minister as the inquiry looked into the uptake of vaccines among ethnic minorities.
The former minister said she was “less worried” about Facebook and X – formerly Twitter – and their influence on the spread of fake news than about more private channels of communication.
The Conservative leader added: “The things that really worry me are the pieces of information that are less visible. The last time I was here, I was talking about WhatsApp groups, for example family WhatsApp groups, things that the government has no idea about.”
“It’s everything from ‘vaccines will kill you’ to ‘the government is suppressing information,'” she said.
The Tory leader said “probably reputable” sources, including representatives of the British Medical Association (BMA), had been used to support false claims and misinformation.
While she said she wasn’t sure how to combat misinformation in private groups, she added: “The thing the government can do best is to provide as much information as possible and show that we’re all in this together.” .
Ms Badenoch took part in vaccine trials to show that “if the minister himself takes part in trials that are riskier than a fully tested vaccine, it can help public confidence”.
She continued: “I’m also not attacking the people who spread this. So as much as I was irritated by the representatives of the British Medical Association who said that, what I didn’t do was follow up on that, because that could actually feed the misinformation or the conspiracy.
The Conservative leader elsewhere said a drive to increase the number of people from ethnic minorities receiving the vaccine had helped make a difference.
People from ethnic minority groups are less likely to get a Covid injection than white people.
Ministers have taken steps, including using places of worship as vaccine centers and a communications campaign on the BBC Asia network, to increase uptake.
Asked if it had improved the number of people getting pocket money, Ms Badenoch said: “I think it does. It certainly created improvements.
“The biggest benefit, I think, was raising awareness, which meant that other people started doing these things and that we weren’t just relying on the government.”