Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help protect young people from the potential dangers of social media.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Our priority is the effective implementation of the Online Safety Act so that children benefit from its wide-reaching protections.
The Act requires all services in scope to take steps to protect users, including children, from illegal content and criminal behaviour. In addition, services likely to be accessed by children are required to risk assess their service and provide safety measures, including the use of highly effective age assurance, to protect children from harmful content.
Ofcom has duty to promote media literacy to help the public understand the nature and impact of where harmful content and online behaviour affects certain groups.