Online Harms Consultation

Debate between Felicity Buchan and Oliver Dowden

Tuesday 15th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Dowden]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. Several other hon. Members have raised the point about future-proofing, and I apologise for not addressing it in my answers so far. Ofcom will be given the discretion to deal with emerging threats, through codes of conduct and so on, but we will also use secondary legislation and identification of priority harms. We are not including those in primary legislation to enable us, over time, to update those priority harms as new threats emerge.

[Felicity Buchan (Kensington) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that senior managers of social media companies must be held responsible if they fail to protect children and vulnerable people?

[Oliver Dowden]

Yes, I do, and I thank my hon. Friend for her question. These kinds of financial penalties we are proposing will cause all senior executives to sit up and think. The last thing one would want to do in a senior management position in such a company is to expose it to such a high level of fine, but we will still, ultimately, reserve the criminal sanction as well, in the way I have set out.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Felicity Buchan and Oliver Dowden

Thursday 24th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Dowden]

Clearly, the BBC is editorially independent from the Government, and I am sure the hon. Lady will want to raise this issue with Tim Davie and others.

[Felicity Buchan (Kensington) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend update the House on the progress his Department is making on reducing Huawei’s presence in our 5G networks to zero by 2027?

[Oliver Dowden]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. Following the statement I made to this House shortly before the summer recess, we are committed to introducing the telecoms security Bill this autumn, so that it will have a clear and enforceable timetable to zero for Huawei in our 5G networks by the end of 2027. Just to update the House, let me say that alongside that we will also publish our telecoms diversification strategy, and I am pleased to confirm that Lord—Ian—Livingston will be chairing a taskforce of industry experts to drive that forward.