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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment the Government has made of the potential effect of provisions in the Online Safety Bill on efforts to tackle online fraud.

The Online Safety Bill will deliver vital protections for users from online fraud, including romance scams and scams ads.

Through the Bill, all companies in scope of the framework will need to take action to tackle fraud where it takes place through user-generated content or via search results. This will increase people’s protection from the devastating impact of scams posted on social media.

Additionally, the largest social media platforms and search engines will have to prevent fraudulent adverts appearing on their services. This will make it harder for fraudsters to advertise scams online, and protect people from this crime.