Social Media: Substances Unfit for Human Consumption

Baroness Bull Excerpts

Wednesday 17th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

My noble friend raises an important and serious point. Fraud is illegal and a priority offence under the Online Safety Act, and platforms are required to act where services are used for scams or misleading advertisements. It is in Ofcom’s hands to ensure compliance with the Act and the duties under it, and we have made it very clear to Ofcom that we support it taking that kind of enforcement action.

[Baroness Bull (CB)]

My Lords, is the problem here not often one of classification? Selective androgen receptor modulators, or SARMs, which are so often the basis of the physique-enhancing supplements to which the Question refers, are classified as novel foods by the FSA. This means that while they are not approved for human use and cannot be marketed as dietary or medical supplements, they can be sold online as research-use only chemicals, which is how people get around the social media loophole. Should the Government not be moving to reclassify them and close the legal loophole which allows them to be sold online?

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

Substances that are illegal or that cause harm to children are caught under the Online Safety Act. Where they are classified as medicines, that is caught by the MHRA under the Human Medicines Regulations. Products sold on online marketplaces that fall outside of medicines or food regimes must still be safe and comply with UK requirements. The Office for Product Safety and Standards oversees that. The Department for Business and Trade is currently consulting on changes, using the powers under the PRAM Act, which is now in force, to look at what more needs to be done to make sure that online marketplaces are marketing safe products to UK consumers.