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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the implication for his policies of social media videos with images embedded designed to provoke epilepsy seizures.

The targeting of epilepsy sufferers online already constitutes a UK criminal offence. Someone who sends flashing images to a person with epilepsy, thereby causing a seizure, could be found guilty of an offence against the person (such as assault) under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. As part of the Online Harms White Paper proposals, the new duty of care will ensure companies have robust systems and processes in place to tackle illegal content on their services. This includes tackling illegal online abuse which provokes epilepsy seizures.

We are also ensuring the criminal law is fit for purpose to deal with online abuse. The Law Commission’s review of abusive and offensive communications is considering law reforms to account for serious harm and criminality arising from abuse online. This includes abuse targeted at users with epilepsy. They are consulting on proposed reforms and will issue final recommendations early 2021.