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Written question asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated) on Monday, 5 December 2022, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 19 December 2022. It was answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Conservative) on Monday, 19 December 2022 on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Social Media: Age

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce a requirement for age blocks for social media sites.

Answer

The strongest protections in the Online Safety Bill are for children.

We expect companies operating sites likely to be accessed by children to use age verification technologies and measures such age assurance to ensure that only children who are old enough are able to access an age-restricted service. The Government also recently announced that it will make changes to the Bill to require services with age restrictions to explain, in their terms of service, the measures they use to enforce these, such as the use of age assurance or age verification technologies, and apply these terms consistently. This means that social media sites and other platforms are held to account for what they say in their terms of service, but will not mandate sites to have a minimum age restriction. Such a requirement could have a negative impact on the ability of children to access appropriate online services and to derive benefit from them.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL4042
Session
2022-23
Subjects
Age Social media
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk