Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what measures her Department is taking to hold online platforms to account for preventing fraud on their services prior to the full commencement of the Online Safety Act 2023’s provisions relating to scam advertising.

The Online Safety Act lists certain fraud offences as ‘priority offences’, meaning regulated services must already prevent users encountering user-generated fraudulent content, swiftly remove it if it appears, and mitigate and manage the risk of their services facilitating fraud. Ofcom, the independent regulator, has robust powers to act if it finds services are failing in their regulatory duties.

Services designated as Category 1 and 2A (large user-to-user and large search services respectively) will have additional duties to tackle paid-for fraudulent advertising. Ofcom aims to publish its register and consult on the additional duties – including on fraudulent advertising – in summer 2026.