Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions his Department has had with social media companies on age restrictions for accessing social media.

Government is committed to protecting children’s safety online across the UK.

The Online Safety Act requires social media platforms to consider, as part of their risk assessments, how their algorithms impact children’s exposure to illegal and harmful content. Additionally, platforms are required to consider how their functionalities, including algorithms, affect the time children spend on the platform.

Ofcom’s draft Children’s Safety Codes include measures that prevent harm related to algorithms, including by recommending that algorithms and other recommender systems filter harmful content out of children’s feeds.