Viral claims that Euan Blair’s apprenticeship provider will receive a £100 billion contract to create the government’s new digital ID app have been debunked.
Social media users were sent into a frenzy this week over rumours that Multiverse, England’s largest revenue-generating apprenticeship provider, had been selected to develop an app for the government’s proposed digital ID scheme.
The misinformation was shared online, creating conspiracies that Euan Blair, son of former prime minister Tony Blair, had been awarded the contract due to his family connections.
The flurry of online chatter came after Tony Blair’s organisation, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, backed the idea for a digital ID that proves the identity, age and residency for all UK citizens and legal residents.
Commenters began to buzz online about Multiverse’s connection to the proposed scheme, garnering over a million views and tens of thousands of reposts.
“No wonder Tony Blair wants Digital IDs… when his son is the owner of the company that’ll be paid £100 billion to develop and monitor them,” one X user said.
The training provider shot down the rumours.
“Just to reassure, we are remaining a training provider, not an app provider, even for £100 billion…” a Multiverse spokesperson quipped to FE Week.
Multiverse mainly delivers tech-related apprenticeships from levels 3 to 6.
FE Week revealed last week that Multiverse overtook Kaplan as the country’s largest revenue-generating apprenticeship provider for the first time, earning £58.9 million from apprenticeship training between April 2023 and March 2024.
Fact-checking website Full Fact published a report earlier this week debunking the digital ID myths.
The proposed digital ID scheme is being run by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and is due to undergo public consultation later this year.
Your thoughts