Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the report Protecting What Matters, published on 9 March, how many times Ofcom have used powers to require companies to share information regarding their algorithms since the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force; what assessment they have made of the safety of those algorithms; and whether that assessment of safety includes impact on social cohesion.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Ofcom has various powers under the Online Safety Act to obtain information from services, including information regarding their algorithms. However, Ofcom does not publish, or provide to DSIT, details of how many information notices they have issued.
In March 2026, Ofcom updated on its work on safer feeds for children. To inform Ofcom’s assessment of these systems, it issued legally-binding information requests to large platforms and has said it will publicly report on the responses in May.
Asked by: Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the report Protecting What Matters, published on 9 March, whether they will publish the scope of the evidence review being undertaken by the Chief Scientific Adviser on misinformation; and how organisations can make relevant contributions to that review.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government Office for Science commissioned an evidence review by an external academic group to synthesise the latest published literature on misinformation. It is a pre-registered study looking at the existing published evidence and is not therefore seeking direct contributions from organisations. The review will be published in due course. The findings from this desktop exercise will inform government's thinking on identifying and tackling harmful misinformation.