Member

The noble Baroness’s amendment highlights many of the areas on which the Government have sought views through their consultation, including features such as infinite scroll, autoplay and communication with strangers. The cumulative effect of the factors requiring restriction and the heavy penalties for failure to comply mean that, in effect, children under the appropriate age would be taken off the internet entirely. As I have already explained, the Government cannot accept proposals that would pre-empt the consultation’s outcomes. While supporting the noble Baroness’s aim to support children’s understanding of how to be safe online, the Government already have a programme of work on this through media literacy and the curriculum. Moreover, her proposals to create new criminal offences for failure to comply risk creating unnecessary legal complexity that overlaps with the existing regime under the Online Safety Act, which already includes criminal offences for senior managers in specific circumstances.