Lord Lemos (Lab): I thank the noble Baroness for that question and I pay tribute to her long-standing work in this area.

UK — Parliament · 2026-07-09 · UK · verified record

Themes: Child safety & minors · Online platforms · Search services

I thank the noble Baroness for that question and I pay tribute to her long-standing work in this area. It is important that I set this out carefully, so I hope she will forgive me if I read out the precise answer. The Online Safety Act framework requires in-scope services to tackle illegal content where it amounts to a criminal offence. In an election context, for example, this includes incitement to violence, undue influence, foreign interference, false communications and false statements about a candidate’s character. Those are important powers, but we recognise—as I have already said on the

Statement The following Statement was made in the House of Commons on Monday 6 July. “With permission, Mr Speaker, I shall make a Statement about foreign interference in UK politics. Genuinely free and fair elections are the bedrock of our sovereignty. They are how our people in this country choose their Government and hold power to account. But we have seen our democracy under attack, whether it is foreign actors trying to find ways to divide us from each other and rip communities apart, funding divisive political actors here in the UK or through misinformation and disinformation online, or p…