Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing fines for social media companies which fail to remove offensive and hate material from their platforms.

The Government has reached agreement through the European Commission's High-Level Group on Hate Crime with social media companies, that they should have robust processes in place to act promptly when online hate abuse is reported. This includes acting quickly to assess the report; removing content within twenty-four hours which does not comply with the acceptable use policies or terms and conditions; and, where appropriate, suspending or terminating the accounts of those breaching the rules that are in place. Collaborative efforts are ongoing to find and evaluate a range of solutions that balance free speech and protection from harm, with the potential to introduce fines if insufficient progress is made. The Government will continue to engage with social media companies and other interested parties to tackle online hate crime, as set out in our Hate Crime Action Plan.