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 protect social media users' privacy from social networks while using video and microphone equipped devices.

The first data protection principle states that organisations, including social media companies, must have legitimate grounds for collecting and using personal data and handle people's personal data only in ways they would reasonably expect. Where organisations breach data protection principles, they are liable for enforcement action from the ICO.

We are currently legislating for a new Data Protection Bill. The Bill will set new standards for protecting general data, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, giving people more control over use of their data, and providing new rights to move or delete personal data.

As part of the work on the Digital Charter, which was announced in the Queen's speech, the Government is considering a range of options to counter internet harms. This includes an Internet Safety Strategy, published on 11 October, which will look at how we can support users so that everyone can access the benefits of the internet safely. The objectives of our Strategy are underpinned by three key principles. We believe that what is unacceptable offline should be unacceptable online, all users should be empowered to manage online risks and stay safe and that technology companies have a responsibility to their users.