Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the effect of anonymous (a) abuse and (b) threats made on Twitter on teenage mental health.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We have no current plans to make such formal assessment.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to tackle (a) sexism and (b) racism on Twitter.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Online Harms White Paper sets out our plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. We intend to establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. The duty of care will ensure companies have appropriate systems and processes in place to deal with harmful content on their services to keep their users safe. Compliance with this duty of care will be overseen by an independent regulator, which will have a range of enforcement powers.
Alongside the White Paper, the government published the Social Media Code of Practice. This voluntary guidance sets out actions that the Government believes social media platforms should take to prevent bullying, insulting, intimidating and humiliating behaviours on their sites.
Government has also asked the Law Commission to conduct a second phase of its review of the legal framework around abusive and offensive communications online. This will make specific recommendations for legal reform and is due to report in early 2021.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of Twitter's appeals process for people that have suffered abuse on Twitter.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Online Harms White Paper sets out our plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. We intend to establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. The duty of care will ensure companies have appropriate systems and processes in place to deal with harmful content on their services to keep their users safe. Compliance with this duty of care will be overseen by an independent regulator, which will have a range of enforcement powers.
As part of the new duty of care, we will expect companies, where appropriate, to have effective and easy-to-access user complaints functions, which will be overseen by the regulator. Companies will need to respond to users' complaints within an appropriate timeframe and to take action consistent with the expectations set out in the regulatory framework
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Answer of 8 October 2019 to Question 294108, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the circulation of fake content on Twitter.
Answered by Matt Warman
I refer the Hon Member to my answer to PQ 294108 from 8th October.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 8 October 2019 to Question 294115 on Children: Social Media, if he will make an assessment of the effect on children's mental health of anonymous (a) abuse and (b) threats made on Twitter.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We have no plans to make such assessment.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on anonymous abuse and threats on Twitter.
Answered by Matt Warman
Ministers have regular discussions with their ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including online abuse.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prevent people from establishing anonymous profiles on Twitter.
Answered by Matt Warman
Companies need to take responsibility for tackling abusive behaviour on their services, including taking steps to limit anonymised users abusing their services. However online anonymity is an important principle of a free and open internet and there are many legitimate reasons why an individual would not wish to identify themselves online - including to protect whistle-blowers and empower victims of modern slavery and domestic and sexual abuse. Globally, anonymity can be especially important for allowing human rights defenders and journalists to operate, especially within authoritarian regimes, without fear of undue reprisal and detention.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions officials in her Department have had with representatives from Twitter on tackling fake Twitter accounts.
Answered by Matt Warman
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with Twitter on a range of issues, including the challenge of fake accounts. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the effect on mental health of anonymous (a) abuse and (b) threats made on Twitter.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We have no plans to make such assessment.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Answer of 8 October 2019 to Question 294112, what discussions she has had with representatives from Twitter on anonymous abuse and threats on that platform.
Answered by Matt Warman
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to PQ 294112 from 8 October 2019.