Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the adequacy of the protections against child grooming which have been put in place on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by those who own and operate those social media platforms.

Technology companies have a critical role to play in preventing paedophiles from using their platforms, including those who seek to groom children. In February 2018 and November 2017 the former Home Secretary met with social media companies to discuss what they are doing to prevent child sexual abuse material on their platforms and made clear that social media companies need to work constructively with law enforcement and government in order to ensure their platforms have the appropriate procedures in place in order that their users are safe

On 20 May the Home Office and Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced joint plans to consider what legislative steps could be taken to improve the response to child sexual exploitation and other online harms. Over the coming months we will be working with industry and other stakeholders with the intention of launching a White Paper later this year.