Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether officials in her Department have had discussions with Ofcom on the adequacy of Ofcom's plans in respect of regulation of the dark web.

The Online Safety Act gives online user-to-user and search providers new duties to tackle illegal user content and activity and keep children on their services safe. Ofcom is the regulator for this regime. It will set out the steps providers can take to fulfil these duties in codes of practice, which must be approved by Parliament before they can take effect.

Ofcom is clear that services on the ‘dark web’ are in scope of the Act. For example, it set this out in its recent consultation on its proposals for how providers should approach their illegal content duties.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Ofcom are working closely together on the implementation of the Online Safety Act.