Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has had recent discussions with social media companies on the rapid removal of graphic or traumatic content depicting serious injury or death.

DSIT has regular discussions with social media companies about a number of online safety matters, including tackling harmful content.

The Online Safety Act gives social media platforms duties to protect their users from harmful content. Under the regulatory regime, platforms must swiftly remove illegal content, including illegal content which depicts serious violence or injury.

Services likely to be accessed by children must put in place age-appropriate protections from violent content, and ensure they have accessible reporting mechanisms in place for parents and children.

Service providers must assess risks and design services to be safe. Ofcom has powers to investigate compliance and can take enforcement action where necessary.