Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage social media platforms to suspend the accounts of the political leaders from (1) Russia, and (2) Belarus.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has been working closely with the major social media platforms to monitor and share information as the situation in Ukraine develops. We have made clear the seriousness of the current situation and the importance of cooperating speedily in countering these threats. This includes the social media platforms swiftly removing disinformation and coordinated inauthentic or manipulated behaviour which is against their terms of service and promoting authoritative content.
We welcome the decisions of major platforms, including Meta, Twitter and YouTube, to restrict posts, accounts and/or advertisements run by Russian state media. As the Secretary of State set out in her statement to Parliament on 3 March, we will continue to work with these platforms to counter Russia’s aggression and support the people fighting for their survival in Ukraine.
More widely, the cross-Whitehall Counter Disinformation Unit brings together monitoring and analysis capabilities from across Government to understand the scope, scale, and nature of disinformation and misinformation and to work with partners to tackle it. We regularly engage with social media platforms to flag content that we consider to be particularly harmful. Where this content breaches their own terms and conditions, we expect platforms to remove it promptly.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to regulate companies' use of technological systems to monitor people.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Organisations that process personal data for the purposes of monitoring their activities or surveillance must comply with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. This means that the data processing must be fair, lawful and transparent. Any adverse impact of monitoring on individuals must be necessary, proportionate and justified by the benefits to the organisation and others. A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) would usually be required, particularly where the processing involves the use of new technologies, or the novel application of existing technologies.
Where people’s biometric data are processed, such as through fingerprint, voice or facial recognition technology, companies would generally need to conduct a DPIA. Companies conducting live facial recognition would generally need to show that processing was necessary for one of a limited number of specified reasons of substantial public interest - for instance, preventing or detecting unlawful acts. They would also need to show that specific conditions and safeguards were met.
The Information Commissioner’s Office is the UK’s independent regulator for data protection and has published extensive guidance to help organisations comply with their data protection obligations. This includes guidance for employers on the rules in relation to monitoring of employees, as well as guidance on monitoring employees in connection with Covid-19 related measures.
The Information Commissioner has also published an opinion on the non-law enforcement use of live facial recognition technology in public spaces which explain the requirements of the legislation and stress that data protection and people’s privacy must be at the heart of any decisions to deploy live facial recognition technology in public spaces.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ban Russian state-backed television channels.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As the Secretary of State set out in her statement to the House of Commons on 3 March 2022, Vladimir Putin must not be allowed to exploit our open and free media to spread poisonous propaganda into British homes.
I am pleased to say that RT has already been removed from Sky, Freeview and Freesat in the UK, meaning that Putin cannot push out his propaganda on UK television. I also welcome Ofcom’s announcement of 27 investigations into RT, and their confirmation that they are considering RT’s UK broadcasting licence.
The Secretary of State has written to the major platforms, asking them to do everything they can to prevent access to RT online in the UK, as they have done in Europe, and we are glad that YouTube and Meta have already done so.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to replace references to harmful ‘content’ in the Online Safety Bill with ‘content and activity’, to cover the release of new social media products such as virtual reality.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government agrees that the scope of the Online Safety Bill must cover a broad range of online interaction, including both content and activity. This is already covered in the draft Bill. All online activity is facilitated by content: therefore references to “harmful content” in the Bill require companies to tackle harm associated with both activity and content. The Bill also requires companies to consider and mitigate the risks arising from the functionalities and ways in which people use their services, for example to contact other users, share content, or express a view on content through “likes” or “dislikes”. Under the Bill, if a company plans to release a new social media product, including one that enables virtual reality functionality, it will have to mitigate any risk of harm posed to users arising from this.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of diversity in the administration of English cricket; and what plans they have to support or require the England and Wales Cricket Board to increase levels of diversity as a condition of receipt of future public funding.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Racism has no place in cricket, sport, or wider society. The Government is committed to ensuring sport does all it can to tackle racism and all forms of discrimination.
The Government believes that sports should be given every opportunity to run their own affairs wherever possible. However, as the Minister for Sport stated in front of the DCMS Select Committee on 18 November, if other actions do not result in meaningful change, independent regulation remains an option that the Government would consider as part of a range of wider measures to address governance and regulation.
We welcome the recent action on tackling racism in cricket from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). We will continue to monitor its actions, including the implementation of the ECB’s new plan for diversity and inclusion. One of the key commitments of this plan is to improve diversity in leadership and governance positions across cricket.
Sport England funding is explicitly linked to the development and implementation of robust diversity and inclusion policies and plans. This has been made clear to the ECB, who have responded positively and constructively.
The Government will continue to liaise with the cricket authorities on tackling racism and hold them to account on this.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce an independent regulator for cricket to oversee the progress the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) makes to tackle racism in that sport.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Racism has no place in cricket, sport, or wider society. The Government is committed to ensuring sport does all it can to tackle racism and all forms of discrimination.
The Government believes that sports should be given every opportunity to run their own affairs wherever possible. However, as the Minister for Sport stated in front of the DCMS Select Committee on 18 November, if other actions do not result in meaningful change, independent regulation remains an option that the Government would consider as part of a range of wider measures to address governance and regulation.
We welcome the recent action on tackling racism in cricket from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). We will continue to monitor its actions, including the implementation of the ECB’s new plan for diversity and inclusion. One of the key commitments of this plan is to improve diversity in leadership and governance positions across cricket.
Sport England funding is explicitly linked to the development and implementation of robust diversity and inclusion policies and plans. This has been made clear to the ECB, who have responded positively and constructively.
The Government will continue to liaise with the cricket authorities on tackling racism and hold them to account on this.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce measures in the Online Safety Bill that grant Ofcom powers to scrutinise social media companies' algorithms.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Online Safety Bill will give Ofcom a range of powers to understand how and to what extent companies are operating their algorithms in ways that comply with their duties in the Bill. Ofcom will have the power to request information from providers which could, for instance, be used to require from a provider information about its assessment of the risks associated with its algorithms or about how its algorithms operate.
Ofcom will have the power to require a company to undergo, and pay for, a skilled person’s report which could be used to assess potential non-compliance, and/or to build an understanding of the risks associated with the operation of a service’s algorithms.
Ofcom will also have the power to enter and inspect premises, documentation, and equipment. Where there are reasonable grounds to suspect non-compliance, Ofcom will be able to seek a warrant which would allow it to inspect and seize information and equipment. These powers could also be used in relation to the operation of companies’ algorithms.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce measures in the Online Safety Bill aimed at preventing the use of of end-to-end encryption in online private messaging.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The UK supports the responsible use of strong encryption, as the safety and security of digital technologies is essential. However, if end-to-end encryption is implemented in a way which intentionally blinds tech companies to content on their platforms it can have a disastrous impact on public safety.
All parts of regulated platforms, including instant messaging services and closed social media groups, are in scope of the Online Safety Bill. Companies cannot use encryption as an excuse to avoid protecting their users, particularly children, and those companies who implement end-to-end encryption will need to demonstrate how they are managing risk to their users, or face big fines. Ofcom will set out the measures platforms need to implement in codes of practice, and could include making these channels safer by design, for example by limiting the ability for anonymous adults to contact children.
More widely, the Government has launched a £555,000 Safety Tech Challenge Fund, which is focused on developing innovative technologies to detect child sexual abuse content in end-to-end encrypted environments, whilst respecting user privacy.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to develop an external dispute resolutions scheme for issues with large technology companies.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Under the Online Intermediation Services for Business Users (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, business users are able directly to assert their rights through cases in the UK courts.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide (1) support, and (2) advice, for those who experience (a) racial discrimination, (b) harassment, and (c) racial hatred, on social media platforms.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Under the Online Safety Bill, services in scope will need to have effective systems in place to minimise and remove illegal content and protect children from harmful abuse. Major platforms will also need to address content which is legal but harmful for adults. Priority categories of legal but harmful content will be set out in legislation, and are likely to include racist abuse and some types of harassment.
If platforms fail in their duties under the Bill, they will face tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global annual qualifying turnover.
The draft Bill has been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee which reported its recommendations on 14 December. We are considering the Committee’s report and will introduce the Bill as soon as possible.
The Government has also published an Online Media Literacy Strategy which supports the empowerment of users with skills and knowledge they need to make safe and informed choices online. This has an amplified focus on supporting users who are most vulnerable online, such as those who experience disproportionate amounts of online abuse.