Asked by: Vicky Ford (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help protect children online.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
Last year the government passed the groundbreaking Online Safety Act which will place much needed duties on tech companies to protect their users, especially children. We are focused on implementing the act as quickly as possible.
In January, the government introduced new offences to criminalise cyberflashing, fake news intended to cause non-trivial harm and other online abuse. The Crown Prosecution Service has already delivered the first conviction for cyberflashing, and it will not be the last.
On 8 May, Ofcom published its draft child safety codes. Once in force, these protections will significantly improve child online safety, ensuring companies shield children from harmful content, and stop their algorithms pushing inappropriate content at children.