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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that large (a) tech and (b) social media companies take legal responsibility for preventing scam ads from running on their sites.

We recognise the devastating impact of scam adverts on people in the UK. The Department is determined to take action to ensure that, where advertising is used as a mechanism to perpetrate fraud, there is a strong regulatory framework to combat it.

The Government remains deeply concerned about the psychological and financial impact of fraudulent advertising, and has engaged widely with stakeholders on this issue. The draft Online Safety Bill has been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee which reported with its recommendations, including on scam ads, on 14 December. We will consider the Committee’s recommendations and are committed to introducing the Bill as soon as possible.

Through the Online Advertising Programme, my Department will tackle the range of challenges posed by online advertising, including fraud. This work will include ensuring that all actors involved take responsibility to tackle this problem, including large ad funded platforms and social media companies who are not currently regulated. The Online Advertising Programme consultation will launch imminently, after which we will seek the earliest possible legislative vehicle to bring forward reform.