Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions officials in her Department have had with social media companies on safeguarding users from scams; and what steps she is taking to protect users from scam content.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
My department has regular meetings with online platforms on a number of issues. The Government is committed to protecting users from online scams and fraud, which is why new regulations were introduced through the Online Safety Act.
The Act gives user-to-user and search service providers new duties for tackling fraudulent content. They will need to conduct risk assessments and ensure they put in place systems and processes that proactively tackle it. The largest user-to-user and search service providers have additional duties to proactively tackle fraudulent advertising.
Ofcom will set out details about how providers can comply with their duties in codes of practice.