Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has made an assessment of (a) the prevalence of shadow banning on social media platforms and (b) its potential impact on freedom of expression and online transparency.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act ensures accountability for tech companies for the safety of their users while upholding freedom of expression online. The Act does not prevent adults from seeking out legal content.
The Act requires the largest services to have clear and accessible Terms of Service, setting out what kinds of legal content for adults they do not accept and in what circumstances they may ban or suspend a user. These services are required to apply these terms consistently and transparently.