MPs hold first session to scrutinise draft Online Safety Bill
22 September 2021
Lord Puttnam, Chair of the Lords’ Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee, will be questioned about the draft Online Safety Bill and to what extent it would make the UK ‘the safest place in the world to be online’.
- Parliament TV: Online safety and online harms
- Inquiry: Online safety and online harms
- Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation
Purpose of the session
Lord Puttnam, Chair of the Lords’ Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee, will be questioned about the draft Online Safety Bill and to what extent it would make the UK ‘the safest place in the world to be online’. The session is likely to examine how far the Bill reflects recommendations of the Lords’ Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee, which concluded that democracy was under threat from a ‘pandemic of misinformation’ online.
Also on the agenda are allegations that Facebook ‘whitelisted’ high profile users and were aware of evidence that Instagram harms teenage girls’ mental health. The inquiry will seek to understand how these should inform the regulation of big tech.
Witnesses
Thursday 23 September 2021.
10.30am:
- Lord David Puttnam CBE, Chair of the Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee
- Dr Talita de Souza Dias, Shaw Foundation Junior Research Fellow in Law, Jesus College, University of Oxford
- Professor Alan Renwick, Professor of Democratic Politics and Deputy Director of the Constitution Unit, University College London
Further information
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