Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he plans to take to monitor and remove harmful online deepfake material.

Deepfakes and other forms of manipulated media are captured by the Online Safety Act where they constitute user generated content that is illegal content, or content which is harmful to children. Category 1 services will also need to remove content, including deepfake content, which they prohibit in their terms of service.

The Government is also taking steps to empower users with the skills they need to engage critically with online content and make informed decisions. Media literacy is a key tool to build citizens’ resilience to misinformation, disinformation and AI-generated deepfakes.