Internet: Safety

(asked on 17th January 2024) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help protect young people from online (a) abuse and (b) grooming.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 22nd January 2024

The Government remains firmly committed to tackling all forms of child sexual abuse online and in our communities across the UK and internationally. Our approach is underpinned by the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy which sets out firm commitments to drive action across the whole system.

The Online Safety Act gained Royal Assent in October 2023, and seeks to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. The Act will for the first time, place clear legal duties on technology companies to take proactive steps to identify, remove and prevent users encountering illegal content, including child sexual abuse, from their platforms. The Government has worked closely with Ofcom to ensure that the implementation period that will be necessary following passage of the legislation is as short as possible.

Child sexual abuse is named in the act as a priority offence meaning companies must use systems and processes to minimise, remove, and report this content to the NCA or another foreign body. The regulator shall publish codes of practice which will include specific measures on CSEA, setting out how companies will have to comply with their legal duties. Companies must take the steps recommended by Ofcom or take measures that are equally as effective.

The Home Office continues to work with international Partners to work on law enforcement cooperation to pursue offenders and bring them to justice, and building capacity to combat this complex and evolving threat around the world given the nature of evolving threat

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