Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish his Department’s list of identified online harms and the groups at risk from each of them.

The Government published the initial response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation on 12 February 2020. This confirmed that the Government is developing legislation on online harms to establish a new duty of care on online companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. Companies will be expected to ensure higher levels of protection for children than for the typical adult user.

The White Paper provided an indicative list of online harms that in-scope companies would be expected to address. That list was not exhaustive or fixed. Online harms legislation will need to be sufficiently flexible, so that it is responsive to emerging technologies and forms of harmful content and behaviour, while at the same time providing sufficient certainty to companies. The White Paper also excluded some types of harm from scope, including harm to companies and harm arising from a breach of data protection legislation or cyber-security. Further information on the duty of care and harm to be addressed will be provided in the Full Government Response to the White Paper consultation.