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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Online Safety Bill will include provisions to help ensure that social media platforms provide advertisers with appropriate controls to determine who can (a) view and (b) engage with their content.

The draft Online Safety Bill has been designed to tackle harm facilitated through user-generated content. The Bill must be targeted and proportionate for businesses and Ofcom.

Harms associated with paid-for advertising will be addressed through the Online Advertising Programme. In 2020, DCMS launched a call for evidence and we will be launching a public consultation on the Online Advertising Programme in the coming months. The draft Bill is currently in pre-legislative scrutiny and the Department will carefully consider all recommendations made by the Joint Committee.