Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the accessibility of suicide fora to children through gaming chats.

The Online Safety Act requires in-scope services, including in-scope gaming services, to prevent all users from encountering illegal suicide and self-harm content, and children from legal content encouraging, promoting, or providing instructions for suicide or self-harm.

It is difficult to estimate how many children access online suicide fora. Ofcom research indicates that fewer than 3 secondary school students in a thousand encounter suicide content through a broad category of websites, that would include suicide fora, during a four-week period. Five in a thousand encountered suicide content through online gaming platforms during the same period.

Ofcom’s first investigation under the Act targeted a pro-suicide forum. On 6 January, Ofcom confirmed it informed the forum provider that Ofcom is working towards issuing a provisional notice of contravention in relation to Act breaches.