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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether further funding has been been allocated from the public purse to the reduction of online harms during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government is committed to making the UK the safest place to be online and, earlier this year, dedicated resources to responding to online harms as a result of Covid-19. This included standing up the DCMS-led Cross-Whitehall Counter Disinformation Unit. In response to the current situation, we have trebled the size of this coordination team at DCMS. Both the disinformation cell and the online harms Covid-19 team have been resourced through existing headcount.

In addition, the Government has pledged £750 million to ensure charities can continue their vital work during the Covid-19 outbreak. Many of these organisations are providing support for online harms during this period. This includes £7.8 million which has been allocated to the Home Office in emergency support for charities helping vulnerable children who have been impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak. We have been working closely with the Home Office on the online harms element of this work.