Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential role of social media monetisation and advertising revenue in incentivising the creation and spread of extremist, misogynistic and radicalising content.

Under the Online Safety Act, platforms must tackle illegal content, including terrorist content and religious or race-based hatred, and protect children from legal but harmful content like abuse. The Government aims to halve violence against women and girls within a decade and has taken action, including requiring providers to remove NCII content within at least 48 hours upon receiving a valid report.

DSIT recognises concerns that social media can enable the monetisation of harmful content. DSIT and DCMS have committed to developing options to reduce inadvertent monetisation through advertising and are engaged with cross-sector experts on this issue while considering proposals via DCMS’ Online Advertising Taskforce.