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 Online harms white paper: initial consultation response published on 12 February 2020, what the membership of the transparency working group is; and how the members of that group were identified.

The transparency working group comprises representatives from a wide range of organisations, including civil society, industry and government. Representatives from the following organisations are members of the group: Childnet, The Coalition for a Digital Economy, Facebook, Global Partners Digital, Google, Internet Watch Foundation, Match Group, Microsoft, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Open Rights Group, Snap, Stonewall, Twitter, The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment, UK Safer Internet Centre, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and the Home Office. The group is chaired by a DCMS minister, now the Minister for Digital and Culture.

The composition of the working group was designed to reflect the diversity of views about transparency reporting in relation to online harms. We sought to identify suitable representatives from different types and sizes of companies, rights organisations, organisations which focus on the safety of children online and organisations representing a diverse range of users.

Following the announcement on 12 February that the Government is minded to appoint Ofcom as the regulator, Ofcom were invited to join the working group.