Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Susan Murray and Peter Kyle

Wednesday 26th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Susan Murray (Mid Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

5. What steps his Department is taking to ensure that smaller platforms are adequately regulated to protect children from online harms.

[The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (Peter Kyle)]

I welcome the national conversation taking place about how we protect children online. The Online Safety Act 2023 requires all regulated user-to-user and search services to comply with the illegal content and child safety rules. The illegal content duties came into effect last week, and I am closely monitoring the impact of these duties on online safety.

[Susan Murray]

Many schools in my constituency of Mid Dunbartonshire use mobile phones as an educational tool, yet along with this learning opportunity comes easy access to sites posting horrendous content. I would like to know how the Government plan to tackle small, foreign-based websites exposing people to graphic content. What steps is the Department taking to ensure that smaller platforms are adequately regulated to protect children from online harms?

[Peter Kyle]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for her question and the manner in which she expressed it, which recognised the complexity of smartphone use—the benefits as well as the potential harmful aspects. I can assure her that, as of last week, the power to demand that illegal content be taken down has come into force. I accept that there is still illegal content online, but I am closely watching the way that Ofcom responds. I think that, in the coming days and weeks, she will see action showing how assertive it intends to be, and I expect it to be, in doing so. It also has a taskforce looking at the small but risky sites she mentions. I will be looking at this very closely and supporting Ofcom in relation to its requirement to act in those circumstances.