Internet: Safety

(asked on 26th March 2025) - View Source

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will review the criteria used to determine platform categorisation under the Online Safety Act to ensure that small but high-risk platforms hosting (a) suicide-related and (b) misogynistic content are subject to the fullest range of duties.


Answered by
Feryal Clark Portrait
Feryal Clark
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This question was answered on 1st April 2025

Under the Online Safety Act, all user-to-user services – including small but high-risk services – must have measures in place to proactively tackle certain types of illegal content, including content which assists suicide and several offences which disproportionately affect women, such as intimate image abuse and harassment. These duties are now in force which means Ofcom can take enforcement action against non-compliant services.

The Secretary of State keeps all legislation under review and will act where necessary to keep people safe online.

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