Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he is planning to introduce any new guidelines or regulations for dating app providers to address the risks of online stalking.

This government has set an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. The Online Safety Act forces in scope services to reduce the risk of illegal content being encountered on their services. Platforms must focus on ‘priority offences’, including content which amounts to stalking and must reduce the risk of priority offences being committed on their services.

Ofcom is the regulator for this new regime, and it will have extensive enforcement powers to take action where companies do not comply with their new duties.