Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to mandate
the use of British Board of Film Classifications ratings for
user-generated content on video sharing platforms.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport () (Con)
My Lords, the British Board of Film Classification’s age ratings
are currently used by a number of video-on-demand providers.
Although adoption is voluntary, we welcome their use. The
video-sharing platform regime, for which Ofcom is the regulator,
came into force on 1 November 2020. UK-established video-sharing
platforms must now take appropriate measures to protect the
public, including minors, from illegal and harmful material.
Video-sharing platforms may adopt age ratings as an appropriate
measure; however, they are not obliged to do so.
(Con)
[V]
I thank my noble friend the Minister for that reply, but there is
a wider issue with BBFC certification. The recently launched
Disney streaming service ran a documentary originally
certificated by the BBFC as suitable for those aged 18 and over.
Disney chose to self-certificate it as suitable for 12 and over.
Believe me, some scenes in that documentary were truly horrific.
To protect children, will the Government, as a matter of urgency,
bang heads together and get every streaming service to sign up to
the BBFC system, which is tried and trusted?
(Con)
I agree with my noble friend’s last remark about this system
being trusted. The Government have great trust in the BBFC’s
best-practice age ratings. On his suggestion that we bang heads
together, we aim to approach things more gently, but we are
actively engaging with the industry to encourage other platforms
to adopt the BBFC’s ratings across all their content, and will
keep the evidence for legislation in this area under review.
(Con)
[V]
My Lords, I declare a past interest as a member of the first
British video classification council, chaired by Lord Harewood.
It was difficult then, so I ask the Minister how parents can be
expected to manage their children’s screen time today, when there
is such a lack of regulation and a slow government response.
(Con)
My noble friend makes a valid point, and I know that parents have
had extraordinary challenges in this area, particularly over the
last year. She is aware that we are developing a media literacy
strategy and that, last year, we published guidance on online
safety for children. We should also remember that our
broadcasters have educated, entertained and informed our children
in the last year.
(CB)
The Government’s response to the online harms White Paper says
that:
“The regulator will be required to have regard to the fact that
children have different needs at different ages when preparing
codes of practice relevant to the protection of children.”
What powers will Ofcom have to provide sufficient oversight and
ensure enforcement of these additional protections? Will they be
set out in the online safety Bill?
(Con)
I assure the noble Viscount that they will be set out in the
legislation. Ofcom will have wide-ranging powers to tackle both
illegal and harmful content. I am happy to write to him with more
detail.
(Lab) [V]
In December, the Minister spoke of the voluntary nature of the
BBFC scheme, which she reminded us of earlier for video-on-demand
services. One of the strengths of the BBFC’s ratings is that they
are well understood by parents and children alike. The same
cannot be said for the inconsistent approaches adopted by
platforms offering user-generated content. How do the Government
plan to balance the undeniable need for change, to which noble
Lords have referred, with their wish to minimise regulation,
which is clearly not working at the moment?
(Con)
The noble Lord will be aware that the adoption of BBFC ratings,
particularly by Netflix, is a relatively recent development, so
we have not yet made an assessment of its impact on both
accessibility of content and other streaming services. As I said
to my noble friend Lord Grade, we are keeping this under review.
(LD)
[V]
My Lords, YouGov research confirms that 82% of parents and 73% of
children want BBFC age ratings displayed on user-generated
content on these video-sharing platforms. Given new duties under
the revised audio-visual media services directive to protect
children, and with the promised duty of care, is not actual
regulation from the Government needed to make sure that these
platforms work with the trusted ratings from the BBFC to better
protect children? Are not the Government running against the
tide?
(Con)
We do not believe that we are running against the tide. The
online harms legislation, which we have discussed extensively in
this House and which I know we will debate in great detail in
future, will make us a world leader in this regard.
(Con)
My Lords, sensibly regulating the wild west of user-generated
content on the internet is essential, but potentially a
whack-a-mole exercise, given the risk that it simply displaces
activity elsewhere. How will the DCMS work with Ofcom to ensure
that its implementation of the video-sharing platform regime
develops understanding of how to regulate online services, in
advance of the online safety Bill coming into force?
(Con)
My noble friend makes an important point. By the implementation
of the video-sharing platform regime, as he suggests, Ofcom will
build its experience in regulating harmful content while
balancing freedom of expression. I understand that Ofcom is
already preparing for its new responsibilities in relation to
online harms by bringing in new technology and people with the
right skills.
(Non-Afl) [V]
My Lords, I declare an interest in that for 10 years I was a
vice-president of the BBFC. While the adoption of the BBFC’s age
ratings is currently voluntary, does the Minister welcome the
fact that Netflix announced on 1 December last year that it had
become the first platform to achieve complete coverage of its
content under the BBFC’s ratings, and that a number of other
video-on-demand platforms use BBFC ratings for some of their
content, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Curzon Home
Cinema and BFI Player? Will she continue to engage with the
industry to encourage other platforms to adopt the BBFC’s ratings
across all their content?
(Con)
Absolutely. The Government welcome Netflix’s decision and, as I
mentioned earlier, we continue to work with a number of the
providers in this area.
(CB) [V]
I refer the House to my interests on the register. Age rating is
just one of the many tools needed to build the digital world that
children deserve, but it is hugely important to children and
families that are looking to curate an age-appropriate
experience. Is the Minister aware that Apple and Google app
stores routinely advertise apps and games as suitable for
four-plus and nine-plus for services whose own terms and
conditions state that they are only for 16-plus or adult use?
This means that a child or parent will download an app on the
false understanding that it is age appropriate. Does she agree
that there is little point age-rating individual pieces of
content if the largest companies in the world continue to
mislabel products and services on an industrial scale?
(Con)
I would be happy to discuss the matter that the noble Baroness
raises with the relevant platforms and the Video Standards
Council. We encourage online store fronts to follow the BBFC best
practice for labelling online apps, which includes signing up to
the international age rating coalition system.
(Con)
My Lords, I declare my interest as vice-chair of the All-Party
Parliamentary Group on Esports. Does the Minister agree that in
protecting children’s rights, the views of gamers, children and
teachers should be taken into account when considering a
combination of age labelling, filters and parental controls, and
that tools such as URI which provide age ratings for UGC
available via online video-sharing platform services are
exceptionally helpful in this context?
(Con)
My noble friend is right that the views of children, gamers and
teachers are important. Under the video-sharing platform regime,
UK-established platforms will be required to take appropriate
measures to protect all their users from illegal content and
minors from harmful content. Those measures could include a
combination of age labelling, filters, parental controls and
technical tools.
