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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure the safety of young people online.

Protecting young people online is a priority for the government. In May 2021, we published the draft Online Safety Bill, which places duties on platforms to protect their users from harmful content and activity. The strongest protections in the legislation are for children. Services which are likely to be accessed by children will have to protect children from inappropriate and harmful content like pornography, and behaviour such as bullying. The regulator, Ofcom, will be able to take enforcement action against companies that fail to comply.

Ahead of online safety legislation, the UK’s regulatory regime for video sharing platforms requires UK-established platforms to take appropriate measures to protect children from harmful material. In addition, the Information Commissioner’s Age Appropriate Design Code, which came into force in September 2021, provides stronger protections for children’s personal data.

The government also recognises that it is important that children and parents are supported to stay safe online. In July 2021, we published the Online Media Literacy Strategy. This supports the empowerment of users, including young people, with the skills and knowledge they need to make safe and informed decisions online, whilst making the most of all the internet has to offer. In June 2021, we also published Safety by Design guidance and a “One Stop Shop” on child online safety. These provide voluntary guidance on steps that platforms can take to design safer services and protect children.