Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of the Online Safety Act 2023 in addressing online content that encourages, promotes or provides instructions relating to eating disorders.

The Government recognises the serious harm caused by online content that encourages, promotes or provides instructions relating to eating disorders.

The Online Safety Act 2023 makes platforms legally responsible for keeping people, especially children, safe online. All providers must mitigate the risks of illegal harm, including encouraging serious self-harm, on their services. Services likely to be accessed by children must also take steps to mitigate risks to children, including exposure to content relating to eating disorders.

Ofcom is responsible for ensuring that services uphold these duties. Its ‘Small But Risky Services Taskforce’ focuses on smaller platforms that host or promote the most acute harms, including self-harm and eating disorder content. These services are identified not by their size, but by the disproportionate level of harm they may present to UK users. The Taskforce has already engaged extensively with high-risk services associated with eating disorders and has assessed over 20 services relating to this harm, with over half identified as high-risk for eating disorder content.

The Department continues to work across Government to ensure that online safety measures support wider public health objectives and protect children and young people from harmful content.