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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Government's Digital Charter, published on 25 January 2018, if he will outline his Department's definition of harmful content; and how that definition differs from the Government's definition of (a) hate speech and (b) hate crime.

The Internet Safety Strategy, which forms part of the Digital Charter, will address a wide range of harms, relating both to behaviours and content, which can be experienced online by users. In her speech on 6 February 2018, the Prime Minister confirmed that we would be bringing forward the Government response to the consultation to the measures proposed in the green paper in the spring.

Hate crime is defined in law as any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person's actual or perceived committed by reason of the victim's race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity. In legislation there are some specific hate crime offences, and provision for enhanced sentences. While some hate speech is illegal under various pieces of legislation, hate speech does not necessarily constitute hate crime, e.g. if it targets other groups. These offences can take place online and offline.