Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Online Safety Act 2023 in protecting children in Northern Ireland.

The Online Safety Act requires services to protect children in the UK from both illegal and age-inappropriate content. These protections are now in force, as of 25 July, children in Northern Ireland should be seeing a tangible difference in their online experiences.

Ofcom are already taking robust action against non-compliant services failing to fulfil their duties. Since the children’s safety duties have been in force, over 6,000 services have implemented highly effective age assurance to prevent children seeing the most harmful online content; improving protections for millions of children online.

We will continue to monitor the Act’s effectiveness and will not hesitate to take further action to protect children online if evidence shows this is necessary.