Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on enforcing the provisions of the Online Safety Act 2023 in relation to small-scale online suicide forums (a) through the Small but Risky Taskforce and (b) by other means.

Ofcom is the independent regulator of the Online Safety Act and is responsible for its enforcement. Within the first month of the Act’s illegal content duties coming into effect, Ofcom launched several enforcement programmes to monitor compliance with the regime, including into the provider of a pro-suicide forum, demonstrating small but risky sites as a high priority for enforcement. As demonstrated by their dedicated small but risky taskforce and recent enforcement actions, Ofcom will identify, manage and enforce against such services where there is a failure to comply with their duties.