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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is able to take to ensure that streaming services aimed at children broadcast content that is appropriately age-rated in line with UK standards.

The British Board of Film Classification’s (BBFC) age ratings are currently used by a number of video on demand providers and, although adoption is voluntary, we welcome their use. We were particularly pleased to see Netflix announce on 1 December 2020 that they have become the first platform to achieve complete coverage of their content under the BBFC’s ratings. We will continue to engage with industry to encourage platforms to use age ratings, and will keep the evidence for legislation in this area under review.

Regulation of video sharing platforms (VSPs), for which Ofcom is the regulator, came into force on 1 November 2020. UK-established VSPs must now take appropriate measures to protect the public, including minors, from illegal and harmful material. In order to comply with the VSP regime, age assurance measures may be adopted by VSPs along with other measures such as age ratings and parental controls. The video sharing platform regime does not, however, mandate the use of age ratings. Platforms must take into account freedom of expression and should consider what measures are most appropriate and proportionate when introducing them.

Protecting children is at the heart of our online harms agenda. Sites that host user-generated content or facilitate online user interaction, such as sites with video sharing capabilities, will be subject to the new duty of care we will introduce under online safety legislation. Under our proposals, companies likely to be accessed by children will be required to assess the risks that material on their service poses to children of different ages, and to put in place age-appropriate protective measures. The government is working at pace to prepare online safety legislation, which will be ready this year.