Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with regulated online platforms on preventing the spread of social media trends that encourage acts of animal cruelty.

The Government recognises concerns about online content and trends that encourage or promote acts of animal cruelty.

The Government and Ofcom have identified animal cruelty as one of the priority kinds of illegal harm under the Online Safety Act regulatory regime. Ofcom’s risk profiles and Register of Risks address how such content and trends can spread on regulated services, including through coordinated challenges or user-generated material.

Regulated platforms are required to carry out suitable and sufficient illegal content risk assessments that cover animal cruelty, and to put in place mitigations to reduce the risk of users encountering or being encouraged to commit such offences. Ofcom is actively monitoring compliance in this area.