Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of recent changes to Meta guidelines on hateful conduct which allow Facebook users to refer to LGBT+ people as mentally ill.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is aware of the changes Meta has made to its guidelines. This change does not affect the strong protections the Online Safety Act will bring in for UK users online. The Act will oblige all social media companies to remove illegal content and content harmful to children and will give adult users more control over the type of content they see, including that which is hateful or abusive.
Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2024 to Question 10824 on Instagram: Politics and Government, if he will ask Ofcom to investigate Instagram's limiting of political content.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act has safeguards for freedom of expression and will give platforms that cross a certain threshold (known as ‘Category 1’ services under the framework) specific duties to safeguard news journalism and content of democratic importance. Ofcom will be able to review providers’ compliance with these duties when they come into effect. As an independent regulator, any investigations and enforcement decisions are a matter for Ofcom.
Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of recent steps taken by Instagram to limit political content on levels of democratic engagement; and what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department's polices.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the influence major online platforms can have on public discourse. This is why the Online Safety Act gives platforms over a designated threshold (known as ‘Category 1 services’) new duties to protect journalism and other content of democratic importance on their services. These duties are designed to safeguard pluralism in online debate and ensure that platforms in scope treat democratic content consistently and transparently.