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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help ensure the safety of children online.

Protecting children online is at the heart of the Online Safety Bill, which the government published in draft in May 2021 for pre-legislative scrutiny. Sites in scope of the Bill which are likely to be accessed by children will need to deliver appropriate safety measures to protect children from inappropriate or harmful content online. If sites fail in their duties under the Bill, they will be subject to tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global qualifying annual turnover.

The government is clear that tech companies should use their ingenuity now to improve child online safety. We have taken a number of steps to help companies and users improve online safety, including the publication of a One Stop Shop for child online safety, the Online Media Literacy Strategy, and Safety by Design guidance.