Online Safety Act 2023: Online Hate and Racism

Lord Davies of Gower Excerpts

Wednesday 5th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I agree completely with the noble Lord’s point. It is impossible without proper training, guidance and an understanding of diversity in an organisation and as experienced by a whole organisation, for effective and correct enforcement of harassment and discriminatory abuse offences. I will have to write to him with detail of the regimes undertaken by Ofcom, but I can say, for instance, on the police, that there is an authorised professional practice guide produced by the National Police Chiefs’ Council in conjunction with the College of Policing. It sets out the latest expectations around policing protests. The protest operational advice document is regularly updated and helps those people on the front line enforcing our expectations of protecting communities—what is race hate and what is not race hate?

[Lord Davies of Gower (Con)]

My Lords, phone snatching increased last year by 150% and shoplifting to the year ending March 2025 increased by 19%. Do the Government really believe that, important though it is, police pursuit of online hate crime is a proper use of resources?

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

In short, yes, because an offence against a person online can be as serious as an offence against someone in person. That is why we are introducing in the Crime and Policing Bill—which will not only tackle incidents of retail crime, for instance, which is obviously a crime against the person—new measures around policing public order, which, again, is directly in person but has an impact on communities and the way that they feel that they are safe in this country. But if we leave online hate unpoliced and unenforced, it will only grow. We have been shown this, and this is why we are absolutely clear with Ofcom that we will not hesitate to build on the Act if it is not doing enough to keep UK users, particularly our children, safe online.