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 recommendations of the WebRoots Democracy report, Kinder, Gentler Politics: Tackling the rise of online abuse in political debate, published on 16 October 2018, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of (a) creating an online abusers register and (b) commissioning research into the links between anonymity and online abuse.

The Government has made clear that more needs to done to tackle online abuse, including anonymous abuse. We will publish a joint DCMS-Home Office White Paper in the Winter, setting out a range of legislative and non-legislative measures, and establishing clear standards for tech companies to help keep UK citizens safe.