Department for Science, Innovation and Technology written question – answered at on 13 January 2025.
Sarah Smith
Labour, Hyndburn
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help tackle online harassment and abuse on social media.
Sarah Smith
Labour, Hyndburn
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking with social media companies to protect online users from anonymous accounts publishing abusive and offensive material.
Feryal Clark
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act will require social media platforms to take more responsibility for the safety of their users. Platforms will need to remove all illegal abusive content and protect children from harmful content, including hateful and abusive content.
Where anonymous abuse does not meet the criminal threshold, adult users of the largest services (Category 1) will have the choice to filter out content from non-verified users. Those services must also offer user empowerment tools to adult users, which when applied will reduce the likelihood that they are exposed to certain legal content, including abusive content.
Yes1 person thinks so
No2 people think not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
