Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made with Ofcom of the potential impact of the Online Safety Act 2023 on children’s exposure to harmful content online.

The Online Safety Act requires services to protect children from both illegal and harmful, age-inappropriate content. Protections against illegal content and activity have been in force since March, and protections for children since July of this year.

We are working closely with Ofcom to monitor the Act’s impact and effectiveness. This evaluation programme will feed into the government’s statutory post-implementation review.

Ofcom will publish data on children's online experiences in the first half of 2026. This will be Ofcom’s most relevant set of data on children’s online experiences since the child safety duties came into force.