Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Online Safety Act 2023 on (a) Wikipedia and (b) news reporting sites.

The Online Safety Act covers services where users post content or interact online, requiring sites like Wikipedia to address illegal material and protect children where necessary. Ofcom must ensure that the duties are proportionate and appropriate for the different kinds and sizes of services.

The Act includes exemptions for specific types of user comment sections, which will take many news publishers sites out of scope. Safeguards are also built in to protect news publisher content on the largest (Category 1) platforms and Ofcom will be required to review how the Act affects journalistic and news publisher material on such services.