Online Safety
Bill
2. What recent discussions she has held with (a) Cabinet
colleagues and (b) civil society groups on the proposed Online
Safety Bill. (904863)
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
May I echo my colleague’s warm welcome to the shadow Front Bench
team, particularly the shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member
for Manchester Central ()? I am quite sure that we
support different football teams and I know that we are from
different cities, but we are both north-westerners and I look
forward to a positive working relationship.
I have met a range of stakeholders, including civil society
groups, to discuss the Online Safety Bill. I have also had
regular meetings with my ministerial colleagues, and I have heard
a wide range of opinions on the Bill. I am taking those options
into account alongside the recommendations of the Joint
Committee.
There has been widespread support throughout this House for the
Online Safety Bill, and yet it has been subject to contradictory
messaging and delays. None of that is helpful for the Department
or good government. Will the Secretary of State finally provide a
clear timetable so that the vital work of scrutiny and
improvement can begin?
Ms Dorries
There have been absolutely no delays. The Joint Committee
reported on 10 December and the Bill will come to the House very
shortly. We have taken time to consider the recommendations
carefully, and the recommendations of the Law Commission, and the
Bill will be here very shortly.
Mr Speaker
I call , the Chair of the Select
Committee.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Select Committee system is the jewel
in the crown of Parliament and well capable of providing the
right scrutiny. Those are not my words but those of the Prime
Minister and the Leader of the House. With that in mind, in the
upcoming Online Safety Bill will the Secretary of State proceed
with utmost caution over the proposed permanent standing Joint
Committee, which would curtail her own powers and those of
Ministers across Government, and if the precedent were followed
to its logical conclusion, it could lead to the dilution of the
Select Committee system? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Ms Dorries
My hon. Friend is absolutely right and I thank him for his
question. The Select Committee on Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport is the jewel in the crown, as is the scrutiny of all Select
Committees, but the Online Safety Bill is groundbreaking and
novel and will legislate in an area in which we have never
legislated or enforced before. I am quite sure that the place for
the debate about whether or not there will be additional layers
of scrutiny will be when the Bill comes before the House.
The Secretary of State may have seen the excellent research in
The Guardian newspaper this week showing that search engines such
as Google are disguising advertisements as search results,
particularly those linked to fossil fuel companies, so much so
that ClientEarth describes it as “endemic greenwashing”. Will the
Secretary of State assure the House that she will use the Bill to
crack down on these over-mighty, arrogant tech platforms?
Ms Dorries
That is a central purpose of the Bill. As a result of the work by
the Joint Committee and others, including the Law Commission and
those who have examined the first edition of the draft Bill, when
we bring the Bill to the House there will be improvements and
enhancements that will go even further in relation to those who
use their power on the internet—those big tech companies and
others—and the legislation will be there to provide the
reassurances that I think the hon. Gentleman is looking for.
Last year, with 50 of my colleagues, I wrote to five of the major
social media companies calling for meaningful change and asking
them to recognise their moral duty to make this change. Only
three of the five even bothered to reply to the correspondence,
which makes me concerned that they are not taking the matter
seriously enough. Will my right hon. Friend be characteristically
robust about ensuring meaningful change in the forthcoming
legislation?
Ms Dorries
I am disappointed to hear about the response from the tech
companies, but frankly not surprised. We will bring forward
legislation that introduces criminal sanctions, including pretty
steep fines—10% of global annual turnover, which could be as much
as £18 billion, so they will be considerable. My hon. Friend is
absolutely right. We should not be having to do this. Those
organisations have a moral responsibility to provide the
protections that young people require. It is their responsibility
to ensure that illegal material is no longer placed online, that
they remove content that is legal but harmful, but most of all
that they protect young people and children. The Bill will have
those three considerations at its heart. The companies could be
doing what they need to do right now—they do not need the Bill.
They could be removing those harmful algorithms right now.
Mr Speaker
I welcome the shadow Front-Bench team, starting with .
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Happy new year to you and to the whole
House.
After years of Government delay, we still do not have a confirmed
timetable for implementation of online safety legislation. With
thousands of unvaccinated covid-19 patients in our hospitals,
appalling attacks on NHS workers, and misinformation about the
vaccines circulating readily online, what is the Secretary of
State doing now—not in a year’s time, not when the legislation is
finally enacted—to properly address misinformation about the
covid-19 vaccines online?
Ms Dorries
The disinformation and misinformation unit is working, and we
have done everything possible. I know there have been—accusations
is a strong word; perhaps concerns. Concerns have been expressed
by Opposition Front Benchers that the disinformation and
misinformation unit is no longer in existence. That is not the
case; it is not true. The unit is there and it is working. We had
a pilot, which ran for six months and stopped, but the work from
that pilot continues with the disinformation and misinformation
unit. That work takes place daily. Daily, we work to remove
harmful online content and, particularly when it comes to
covid-19 vaccinations, content that provides misinformation and
disinformation. Daily, we have contacts with online content
providers, and the work is ongoing.
Happy new year, Mr Speaker.
My hon. Friend the Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock () raised a strong point about
scrutiny and good government. Before Christmas, the Secretary of
State appointed her preferred candidate as chair of the Charity
Commission. Within a week he was gone, after it was discovered
that he had behaved inappropriately to women colleagues, sending
one a picture of himself in a Victoria’s Secrets store—
Mr Speaker
Order. I do not think that is linked to the question, which is
about the Online Safety Bill. Your question has to be linked;
that is why it is taken. I will call you on topicals, so you can
ask the question then. [Interruption.] They are not my rules.
They are rules the House has set so it is no use getting angry
with me. The question has to be relevant.
I am not angry with you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker
Thank you.
Topical
Questions
: So-called conversion
therapy is a horrific abuse of some of the most vulnerable people
in society, specifically targeting LGBT young people. The
introduction of the online safety Bill will hopefully coincide
with progress on banning conversion therapy. Can the Secretary of
State guarantee that online promotion of this terrible abuse will
be banned in all circumstances in the Bill?
Ms Dorries: The online safety Bill will be before the House
very shortly. I do not think I can answer the hon. Lady’s
particular question, because that is not a policy of the
Department—it is not our policy area—but the online safety Bill
will be here shortly and we can discuss it further.
