Online Safety
Debate between Lisa Nandy and Tahir Ali(2Â weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Tahir Ali (Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley) (Lab)
Children are being exposed daily to horrific, violent content online. Ofcom’s own research shows that nearly a quarter of 11 to 17-year-olds have seen violent content in just four weeks, and nearly three quarters have seen harmful content of some kind. The number has barely moved since the Act’s child safety duties came into force. Much of this content is not even sought out, but is served up by algorithms as children scroll. We know the pattern: cruelty to animals first, then violence against people, desensitising a generation and, for some, opening a path to real violence and criminality. Primary legislation to enforce all this at the app and device level is welcome, but we need to give Ofcom the tools that will enable it to deal with this immediately, as it becomes an issue.
Lisa Nandy
My hon. Friend is right. Let me say to him, as someone who shares his concern about the increase in exposure to violent content to very young children, that we are also looking at the issue of chatbots and strengthening the law to ensure that we protect children better from all these different forms of exposure.