Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab): I am grateful to the noble Baroness for raising this profound issue.

UK — Parliament · 2025-06-11 · UK · verified record

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

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for raising this profound issue. Ofcom’s codes go beyond current industry standards and practices. Under the Online Safety Act, companies cannot decline to take steps to protect children, including young girls, because it is too expensive or inconvenient. Protecting children is a priority. The Secretary of State has said that safety by design is one of the priorities in the statement of strategic priorities of this Government. Ofcom is required to consider those priorities in its approach to online safety regulation and will need to provide regular updates o

Question Asked by To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to protect children against abusive online communication. My Lords, keeping children safe is a priority for this Government. Under the Online Safety Act, services must prevent all users encountering illegal abuse and harassment online. These duties are already in force. Services likely to be accessed by children must also protect them from content that is harmful to them, including bullying, abusive or hateful content. Ofcom recommends measures including ensuring that algorithms filter out such content, to make sure t…