Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2021 to Question 3171 on Social Media: Antisemitism and with reference to the priority harms to be set out in secondary legislation under the planned Online Safety Bill announced in the Queen's Speech 2021, whether he plans to include in those priority harms (a) anti-Semitic abuse, (b) homophobic abuse, (c) abuse on the grounds of disability and (d) abuse on the grounds of other protected characteristics defined in the Equality Act 2010.

We know that groups with protected characteristics or with particular mental or physical health conditions are currently more likely to experience harm and abuse online. We are continuing to work with stakeholders, Parliamentarians and Ofcom to identify specific priority harms and to determine how to formulate these in legislation. The list of primary harms will need to capture online abuse, both where it is legal and where it constitutes a criminal offence.