Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help tackle online state-sponsored harmful content.

Under the Online Safety Act, companies will be forced to take action against illegal content online. The Foreign Interference Offence, a priority offence in the Act, will require companies to tackle a wide range of state-linked interference online, and platforms will be faced with enforcement action from Ofcom in case of non-compliance.

The department engages regularly with social media platforms to discuss state sponsored activity online. This includes flagging content that violates platforms’ terms of service for swift review and working with them to ensure their terms of service are fit for purpose.