Keeping our children safe online

I spoke in Parliament about how the Government must urgently improve implementation of the Online Safety Act. The legislation was meant to make online spaces safer for the British people but Ofcom’s approach has been far too slow and weak, allowing tech companies to go unpunished while horrendous harms persist on their platforms. I’ll be working hard to make sure the Government strengthens legislation and holds Ofcom and tech giants to account so that the horrendous abuse, scams, and child exploitation that’s become normalised online is stamped out.

Parents who I speak to are deeply concerned about the amount of time their children spend on screens and the harms they are exposed to. But it shouldn’t solely be their responsibility to monitor online activity. Tech companies must be held to account and create safer spaces for children online. I asked the Government what it is doing to address this.