To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference
to the Government response to the Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee
Report on Immersive and Addictive Technologies, published on 8 June 2020, what plans
he has to introduce legislative proposals to require companies to use a proportionate
range of tools including age assurance, and age verification technologies to prevent
children from accessing age-inappropriate content.
<p>Protecting children is at the heart of our online harms agenda, and wider government
priorities. We have now published our Full Government Response to the Online Harms
White Paper, which sets out how a proposed legal duty of care on online companies
will work in practice and gives them new responsibilities towards their users. We
are working at pace to have legislation ready next year.</p><p>Services which are
likely to be accessed by children will be required to provide additional protections
for children using them. Companies will be required to assess the risk their service
poses for children, put in place proportionate measures to protect children, and monitor
these for effectiveness. Under our proposals, we expect companies to use age assurance
or age verification technologies to prevent children from accessing services which
pose the highest risk of harm to children, such as online pornography. Companies will
also need to provide age-appropriate protections from harmful content and activity
for children using their service.</p><p>We would encourage companies to take steps
ahead of the legislation to protect children from harmful and age inappropriate content
online. We are working closely with stakeholders across industry to establish the
right conditions for the market to deliver age assurance and age verification technical
solutions ahead of the legislative requirements coming into force.</p><p> </p>
