Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he mas made of the potential merits of using powers under Schedule 11 of the Online Safety Act to extend category 1 regulation to online forums to help tackle antisemitic hate speech online.

The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology will make Regulations pertaining to Schedule 11 of the Online Safety Act as soon as reasonably practicable.

Under the Act, all user-to-user services – including online forums - will be required to proactively tackle illegal hate speech, such as illegal antisemitic abuse. If such a service is likely to be accessed by children, they will also be required to protect children from encountering specific types of legal but harmful content. This includes legal content which is abusive or incites hate on the basis of race or religion.