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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the protections provided by Schedule 7 of the Online Safety Bill against online hate speech specifically targeted at (a) women and (b) disabled people; and if she will make a statement.

The Online Safety Bill contains robust protections for women, girls and disabled people online, who face disproportionate volumes of abuse.

All services in scope will need to put in place proportionate systems and processes to minimise the risk of priority illegal content appearing on their service and to swiftly remove it when it does appear. This will protect all online users, including from content which could constitute hate speech under the Public Order Act 1986. This includes behaviours that are threatening and abusive and result in harassment, alarm or distress. The list of priority offences includes a number of offences which disproportionately afffect women and girls, such as revenge pornography and cyberstalking, which companies must tackle.

Beyond the priority offences, all services will need to ensure that they have quickly taken down other illegal content directed at women and girls and disabled people once it has been reported or they become aware of its presence. Women, girls and disabled users will also be able to report abuse, and should expect to receive an appropriate response from the platform. Ofcom will also have a duty to consider the vulnerability of users whose circumstances appear to put them in need of special protection when performing its duties.

If major platforms don’t fulfil their own standards to keep people safe, they could face an investigation and enforcement action.