Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to reduce online (a) harassment and abuse on social media and (b) other online harms for teenagers and young people.

Under the Online Safety Act, services likely to be accessed by children must protect children from legal content that presents a risk of harm. This includes cyberbullying and online abuse and harassment, which has been designated as ‘priority content that is harmful to children’. Companies must assess the risk to children from this kind of content and implement proportionate and age-appropriate protections.

All in-scope companies must tackle illegal content, including illegal abuse and harassment. Adult users of services designated as Category 1 will have greater control over the content they are exposed to.