Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will commission research into (a) the types of (i) messages and (ii) videos promoted by TikTok to UK children and teenage users and (b) the role of promoting such content by malign state actors .
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Child online safety is of the utmost importance to the government. Under the Online Safety Act, user-to-user services likely to be accessed by children must protect them from harmful content. Ofcom’s draft codes of practice include recommendations for services to meet these duties, including ensuring that algorithms do not target children with harmful content.
Any attempt by malign state actors to interfere in the UK’s information environment is unacceptable. The Foreign Interference Offence is a priority offence in the Online Safety Act, it requires all in-scope companies to take action against a range of state-linked disinformation and interference online.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will ensure that law enforcement agencies have sufficient resources and training to identify and prosecute creators of non-consensual deepfake content.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes are degrading and harmful. We refuse to tolerate the violence against women and girls that stains our society, which is why we’ve brought forward legislation in the Data (Use and Access) Bill to ban their creation as quickly as possible.
The Home Office is funding the police to detect and remove illegal deepfake images and are working closely with them to improve officers understanding of this emerging threat.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will implement stronger penalties for creating non-consensual deepfake content.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government is committed to tackling the harm posed by the creation of non-consensual intimate images. We are bringing forward legislation to criminalise this behaviour in the Data (Use and Access) Bill. The new legislation will ensure that offenders face the appropriate punishments for this atrocious harm.
The sharing of or threatening to share a deepfake intimate image without consent is already a criminal offence under the Online Safety Act and was designated as a priority offence in November 2024. Companies in scope of the Act’s illegal safety duties will be required to proactively tackle this type of content, preventing its proliferation online.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when he expects the report of the Independent Pornography Review to be published.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Independent Pornography Review assesses the effectiveness of current pornography legislation, regulation, and enforcement. It is an important area of interest for this government. The Review has now just concluded. The government is assessing its findings and the final report will be published in due course.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will publish an annual list of (a) social media companies and (b) search services sanctioned for failing to prevent pre-teen access to pornography including details of those sanctions.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Online Safety Act, publishers of pornography online and user-to-user services that allow sharing of pornographic content have a duty to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from accessing this.
The Act requires Ofcom to produce and publish a report on in-scope services’ use of age assurance solutions, within eighteen months of these duties coming into force.
Ofcom has set out in its guidance on enforcement. This guidance includes the information Ofcom will generally publish when opening an investigation, including the identity of the subject and scope of the investigation.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will take steps to prevent social media companies adjusting network algorithms to promote actions by users (a) favouring political (i) candidates and (ii) outcomes and (b) who are potential national security threats.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act gives platforms duties to tackle illegal content. The regulator, Ofcom, has outlined steps providers can take to fulfil these duties in codes of practice, including recommending steps for stopping illegal foreign interference and terrorism content being promoted via algorithms. These duties should be in effect by spring 2025.
The Act will also require all services to have clear, accessible Terms of Service (ToS) and will require Category 1 services to state what legal content for adults is not accepted. Companies must have effective reporting mechanisms, enabling users to raise concerns about enforcement of ToS, if they feel companies are not fulfilling their duties.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of reliance on Starlink in the (a) private and (b) public sectors; what steps he is taking to help increase competition in satellite technologies.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government acknowledges rapid evolutions in the global satellite communications sector. Monopoly rarely serves the public interest and a competitive market is important to ensuring public and private sector value. We are keen to secure UK leadership in commercial satellite communications, which is why the UK has:
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce fines for social media companies for failure to remove online material which incites violence.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act 2023 places duties on user to user services to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share illegal content. This includes content that incites violence and content which stirs up religious or racial hatred. The Act is currently being implemented. Ofcom will have a broad range of powers to assess and enforce compliance with the Act, including issuing fines to services that do not comply of up to £18m or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue in the relevant year, whichever is higher.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will hold discussions with mobile phone manufacturers on encouraging the development of phones that are disabled when their users are driving motorised vehicles.
Answered by Julia Lopez
We appreciate that phones deactivating when entering a motorised vehicle would ensure consumers’ compliance with existing laws regarding the use of mobile phones while driving. However, the Government currently has no plans to discuss this issue with mobile phone manufacturers. It is important to recognise it is not possible to determine whether the owner of a mobile device is driving or a passenger within a vehicle, and so automatic disabling features are likely to be difficult to create with accuracy.
Most Android and iPhones already have ‘do not disturb’ or ‘drive mode’ features embedded within their operating systems, which can activate automatically once a device connects to a car’s Bluetooth network.
While mobile phones are a vital part of modern life and business, drivers must always use them safely and responsibly.
The Government amended the offence of using a hand-held mobile phone while driving in March 2022. The offence is now triggered by any use of a hand-held mobile phone while driving, reflecting the real world where smart phones or devices are used not only for calls and texting.
The change in the law in 2022 has made it easier for the police to enforce this offence as they no longer have to prove that any use they identified from the roadside involved calls and texting.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to (a) make older people aware of Gigabit vouchers and (b) enable older people to access Gigabit vouchers.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK’s Digital Strategy published in 2022 is clear that HMG has a “vision to enable everyone, from every industry and across the UK, to benefit from all that digital innovation can offer”.
The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme is led by broadband suppliers, who are encouraged to communicate directly with communities to increase local awareness of the voucher scheme and develop potential projects. Suppliers are then responsible for communicating with beneficiaries as any project progresses.
An address checker is available for all consumers to find out whether they are eligible for a voucher at: https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/.