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Written question asked by Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 18 March 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 1 April 2026. It was answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Labour) on Friday, 10 April 2026 on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Internet: Safety

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the report Protecting What Matters, published on 9 March, how many times Ofcom have used powers to require companies to share information regarding their algorithms since the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force; what assessment they have made of the safety of those algorithms; and whether that assessment of safety includes impact on social cohesion.

Answer

Ofcom has various powers under the Online Safety Act to obtain information from services, including information regarding their algorithms. However, Ofcom does not publish, or provide to DSIT, details of how many information notices they have issued.

In March 2026, Ofcom updated on its work on safer feeds for children. To inform Ofcom’s assessment of these systems, it issued legally-binding information requests to large platforms and has said it will publicly report on the responses in May.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL15733
Session
2024-26
Related items
Subjects
Community relations Internet Ofcom Safety Artificial intelligence
Legislation
Online Safety Act 2023
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk