Social Media: Eating Disorders

(asked on 1st September 2026) - View Source

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport,  what assessment she has made of whether measures used by developers of artificial intelligence systems to prevent harmful eating disorder-related outputs could be applied by social media companies to reduce users' exposure to content that promotes eating disorders.


Answered by
Ian Murray Portrait
Ian Murray
Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
This question was answered on 15th September 2026

Tackling eating-disorder content online is a priority for the Government, and we recognise the risks posed by AI systems generating content that could encourage or exacerbate eating disorders.

Generative AI services in scope of the Online Safety Act are required to prevent children from encountering eating-disorder content. As the independent regulator, Ofcom's codes of practice set out the measures it considers appropriate for meeting those duties

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