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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with representatives of (a) social media and (b) other tech platforms on funding for Ofcom, after Ofcom takes on regulatory responsibility for online harms.

In response to the Online Harms White Paper, the Government ran a consultation from 8 April 2019 to 1 July 2019 which received over 2,400 responses from a wide range of stakeholders and organisations, including members of the public. The Government has also undertaken extensive engagement over the last 12 months with representatives from industry which, alongside the consultation responses, has been reflected in the Online Harms White Paper initial response published on 12 February 2020. Overall, respondents and stakeholders agreed that, whilst funding should primarily be from industry, the ultimate funding structure for the Online Harms regulator should be proportionate and practical.The Government is currently carrying out extensive analysis on potential funding options. Full details of the funding mechanism for the Online Harms regulatory regime will be set out in due course.