Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department plans to take through the new joint government working group on children’s online safety to assess the impact of digitally-manipulated body images on young people’s mental health.

Under the UK’s Online Safety Act relevant services will need to prevent children from accessing the most harmful content, including content promoting eating disorders. Ofcom has also proposed in its draft child safety codes that platforms take steps to protect children from depressive content and body image content.

The government recognises that these issues must also be addressed working with our international partners. Once established, the new UK-US working group will facilitate the sharing of expertise and evidence, including from implementation of the UK’s Online Safety Act, on the impact of social media on children’s mental health and well-being.