Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the forthcoming White Paper on the development of digital technology and the digital economy will include reserve powers to address economic harm on online platforms in order to protect the interests of the UK’s creative industries against piracy and the spread of illegal content.

Development of digital technology and the digital economy is not specifically in scope of the Online Harms White Paper.

As part of the Digital Charter, the Government's overarching strategy to make sure the internet works for everyone - for citizens, businesses and society as a whole - we have already introduced a number of measures to protect the interests of the UK's Creative Industries, including facilitating a Code of Practice signed by search engines and copyright owners. This has reduced the prominence of websites hosting illegal copyright infringing content in natural search results.