Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
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 Discord when considering the proposed social media restrictions for young people; and whether she has considered including Discord within the scope of those restrictions as a social media platform.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
We plan to use the same model for social media restrictions as Australia. Their approach includes user-to-user platforms that allow users to post material, alongside algorithms, with a set of exemptions.
We will set out the final detail in regulations this year. We are going further than Australia by introducing world-leading restrictions on stranger communications to stop strangers discovering and communicating with children, including on gaming platforms.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether they will require their department and agencies to offer payroll deductions to all employees to enable them to join a credit union.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
At this time, the Department does not administer payroll deductions for Credit Unions, and there are no proposals to introduce such a service.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions she has had with Ofcom on tackling the spread of antisemitism and Islamophobia on social media.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Ofcom about online safety matters. For example, in October, the Secretary of State wrote to Ofcom requesting an update on its implementation of the Online Safety Act, including work to ensure platforms tackle antisemitic and hateful content and abuse.
Ofcom’s reply outlined the main themes of its work in tackling antisemitism and other forms of hate speech and abuse. This includes driving compliance through the Online Safety Act’s regulatory framework, building on its codes of practice, working with civil society to build its evidence base and targeted working with platforms during crises.