To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has had discussions with Ofcom on the number of complaints it has received from micro and small businesses relating to the mis-selling of telecommunications contracts in each of the last five years.

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has had discussions with Ofcom on the number of complaints it has received from micro and small businesses relating to the mis-selling of telecommunications contracts in each of the last five years.

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Ofcom's enforcement of its General Conditions in relation to the sale of telecommunications services to micro and small enterprises.

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Ofcom's enforcement of its General Conditions in relation to the sale of telecommunications services to micro and small enterprises.

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of compliance within the telecommunications sector with Ofcom General Condition C1.11 relating to contract commitment periods for micro and small enterprises.

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of compliance within the telecommunications sector with Ofcom General Condition C1.11 relating to contract commitment periods for micro and small enterprises.

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with Ofcom on providing small service providers with a mechanism to obtain a specific, binding assessment of whether an individual proposed feature would bring their service into a higher risk category under the...

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with Ofcom on providing small service providers with a mechanism to obtain a specific, binding assessment of whether an individual proposed feature would bring their service into a higher risk category under the...

Supporters say a ban would help protect children online, but others argue it could have unintended consequences.

Supporters say a ban would help protect children online, but others argue it could have unintended consequences.

The media green paper examines the future of public service media and digital terrestrial television.

The media green paper examines the future of public service media and digital terrestrial television.

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of Australia’s proposed legislation that would permit individuals to disable algorithms on social media.

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of Australia’s proposed legislation that would permit individuals to disable algorithms on social media.

My Lords, Australia’s draft legislation was published only on Monday. The Government have therefore not made a full assessment, but as I am sure my noble friend would expect, we are following

developments closely. The UK’s Online Safety Act already requires platforms to address algorithmic risks, including the promotion of illegal content and content harmful to children. Building on that, we have announced measures to switch personalised recommendation algorithms off by default for 16 and 17 year-olds. We also committed earlier this year to giving users greater control over their feeds, including through algorithmic reset.

My Lords, Australia’s draft legislation was published only on Monday. The Government have therefore not made a full assessment, but as I am sure my noble friend would expect, we are following

developments closely. The UK’s Online Safety Act already requires platforms to address algorithmic risks, including the promotion of illegal content and content harmful to children. Building on that, we have announced measures to switch personalised recommendation algorithms off by default for 16 and 17 year-olds. We also committed earlier this year to giving users greater control over their feeds, including through algorithmic reset.

My Lords, there is now a clear international shift towards giving users a genuine choice over their algorithmic feeds on social media. The recent Meta settlement and connected structural remedies in the United States, Australia’s proposed legislation that came out this week and the EU’s Digital Services Act, under which this option has already been live for three years, all reflect a growing consensus. Yet our Online Safety Act currently stops short. It does not give any adult or child the ability to turn off their algorithm. I listened very closely to my noble friend’s response, but I ask what more steps the Government are considering in order for us to catch up.

My Lords, there is now a clear international shift towards giving users a genuine choice over their algorithmic feeds on social media. The recent Meta settlement and connected structural remedies in the United States, Australia’s proposed legislation that came out this week and the EU’s Digital Services Act, under which this option has already been live for three years, all reflect a growing consensus. Yet our Online Safety Act currently stops short. It does not give any adult or child the ability to turn off their algorithm. I listened very closely to my noble friend’s response, but I ask what more steps the Government are considering in order for us to catch up.

The Government completely agree with my noble friend that users should have greater control over their online experiences. We have committed to taking steps for 16 and 17 year-olds that go further than Australia’s proposal and Meta’s commitments by switching off teenagers’ personalised feeds by default. Services will also have to use highly effective age assurance to enforce this. The Online Safety Act’s user-empowerment duties will come into force next year and will allow users of the largest platforms to control what content they see in their feeds. Ofcom is currently consulting on this measure. In addition, we committed earlier this year to building on these duties to give users greater control over their algorithms.

The Government completely agree with my noble friend that users should have greater control over their online experiences. We have committed to taking steps for 16 and 17 year-olds that go further than Australia’s proposal and Meta’s commitments by switching off teenagers’ personalised feeds by default. Services will also have to use highly effective age assurance to enforce this. The Online Safety Act’s user-empowerment duties will come into force next year and will allow users of the largest platforms to control what content they see in their feeds. Ofcom is currently consulting on this measure. In addition, we committed earlier this year to building on these duties to give users greater control over their algorithms.

Does the Minister agree that the burden for safety should be with the platform rather than the user? She made reference to the Online Safety Act in terms of tackling algorithms in this way. Why has not Ofcom used those powers?

Does the Minister agree that the burden for safety should be with the platform rather than the user? She made reference to the Online Safety Act in terms of tackling algorithms in this way. Why has not Ofcom used those powers?

We have been really clear that the Online Safety Act is not the end of the road for online safety, and we had the Secretary of State’s announcement earlier this week. The Secretary of State has met the new chair of Ofcom to reinforce the importance of robust enforcement of the Online Safety Act. The Government have also asked Ofcom to publish a clear enforcement strategy and report to Parliament on progress. As the noble Baroness will be aware, it has significant enforcement powers and launches investigations, but we are trying to work with it to make sure that these are used as effectively as possible.

We have been really clear that the Online Safety Act is not the end of the road for online safety, and we had the Secretary of State’s announcement earlier this week. The Secretary of State has met the new chair of Ofcom to reinforce the importance of robust enforcement of the Online Safety Act. The Government have also asked Ofcom to publish a clear enforcement strategy and report to Parliament on progress. As the noble Baroness will be aware, it has significant enforcement powers and launches investigations, but we are trying to work with it to make sure that these are used as effectively as possible.

My Lords, the Expert Panel for Growing Up in an Online World was convened by DSIT earlier this year to provide independent, evidence-based advice supporting the growing up in the online world national consultation. It met three times in May and June this year, and the panel’s views informed the Government’s response to the consultation in July.

Does the Minister agree that DCMS should reconvene this expert panel and ask it to work at pace to make recommendations on how best to give individuals greater control over what social media content is presented to them?

My Lords, the Expert Panel for Growing Up in an Online World was convened by DSIT earlier this year to provide independent, evidence-based advice supporting the growing up in the online world national consultation. It met three times in May and June this year, and the panel’s views informed the Government’s response to the consultation in July.

Does the Minister agree that DCMS should reconvene this expert panel and ask it to work at pace to make recommendations on how best to give individuals greater control over what social media content is presented to them?

I thank everyone involved in the panel. It is really important that we address such issues collectively. I will speak to my colleague, Minister Murray, about the future of the panel and come back to the noble Lord as soon as possible.

I thank everyone involved in the panel. It is really important that we address such issues collectively. I will speak to my colleague, Minister Murray, about the future of the panel and come back to the noble Lord as soon as possible.

My Lords, at the heart of this issue is surely whether the Online Safety Act is capable of dealing with the issues that are arising through technological change and the way in which users are experiencing difficulties. Can my noble friend explain to us whether the Government plan to look again at some of the underlying structure of the Act in order to address these issues, which I think would respond better to these questions?

My Lords, at the heart of this issue is surely whether the Online Safety Act is capable of dealing with the issues that are arising through technological change and the way in which users are experiencing difficulties. Can my noble friend explain to us whether the Government plan to look again at some of the underlying structure of the Act in order to address these issues, which I think would respond better to these questions?

This whole area is clearly developing on an ongoing basis. We will always keep under review whether the measures we have in place are adequate; we will always make sure that we take steps to do that. It is an absolute priority of this Government to keep people safe online, and we want to work across party divides to make sure this happens and that we both harness the benefits of this sector and everything that the online world can contribute and make sure that we keep everyone safe online.

This whole area is clearly developing on an ongoing basis. We will always keep under review whether the measures we have in place are adequate; we will always make sure that we take steps to do that. It is an absolute priority of this Government to keep people safe online, and we want to work across party divides to make sure this happens and that we both harness the benefits of this sector and everything that the online world can contribute and make sure that we keep everyone safe online.

My Lords, the Australian proposals are are all about allowing users to have the choice about what sources they see on their feeds, as are the tools and user empowerment in the Online Safety Act. Does the Minister see a tension here with the approach outlined in the Government’s media Green Paper, which is about giving the Government the power to decide which news sources are trustworthy? If we are giving people choice to switch off algorithms, will they have the opportunity to opt out of government-sanctioned trustworthy news in due course?

My Lords, the Australian proposals are are all about allowing users to have the choice about what sources they see on their feeds, as are the tools and user empowerment in the Online Safety Act. Does the Minister see a tension here with the approach outlined in the Government’s media Green Paper, which is about giving the Government the power to decide which news sources are trustworthy? If we are giving people choice to switch off algorithms, will they have the opportunity to opt out of government-sanctioned trustworthy news in due course?

The noble Lord makes a very interesting point, and I would be very keen to discuss it further with him. We are working with different and conflicting issues. We are really keen that it is a priority to make sure that people have trusted sources of news and they know that those news sources that come to the top of their feeds are the most trustworthy. I would be surprised if there was a huge number of people who wanted to turn off an option to get trusted news at the top of their feed, but I am happy to discuss that further with the noble Lord.

The noble Lord makes a very interesting point, and I would be very keen to discuss it further with him. We are working with different and conflicting issues. We are really keen that it is a priority to make sure that people have trusted sources of news and they know that those news sources that come to the top of their feeds are the most trustworthy. I would be surprised if there was a huge number of people who wanted to turn off an option to get trusted news at the top of their feed, but I am happy to discuss that further with the noble Lord.

My Lords, alongside the Question my noble friend rightly asked about how we might ban or prevent people accessing harmful content and poorer models, can my noble friend the Minister say what we are doing to help generate good role models, and therefore algorithms that do not get

banned? If I think about my own sport, boxing, which I have been involved in since I was 15 years old, it is awash with really good male role models, rather than the toxic kind we often see. How is her department helping to support grass-roots youth, sports, community hubs and interventions in a way that might generate better content that people do not need to ban?

My Lords, alongside the Question my noble friend rightly asked about how we might ban or prevent people accessing harmful content and poorer models, can my noble friend the Minister say what we are doing to help generate good role models, and therefore algorithms that do not get

banned? If I think about my own sport, boxing, which I have been involved in since I was 15 years old, it is awash with really good male role models, rather than the toxic kind we often see. How is her department helping to support grass-roots youth, sports, community hubs and interventions in a way that might generate better content that people do not need to ban?