Online safety - call for action: Ministerial letter

To: Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Future Digital Economy and Online Safety, Janet Daby MP, Minister for Children and Families, Jess Phillips MP, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Alex Davies-Jones MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice

From: Natalie Don-Innes MSP, Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise Natalie Don-Innes and Siobhian Brown MSP Minister for Victims and Community Safety

Dear colleagues,

We are writing to invite further cooperation between our Governments in respect of online safety, particularly to protect children and young people, and to urge further legislative action. The Scottish Government has welcomed the intergovernmental activity that has already taken place, which gives good foundations for action that is required over the year ahead.

We increasingly live our lives online and increased social media use over the past decade has had an enormous impact on every area of our society. While the internet and mobile technologies have positively transformed our lives bringing vast opportunities, we also know there is less distinction being made between online and offline worlds. It is therefore of the utmost importance to ensure that our young people benefit from the online world in safe and secure ways. We would like to say from the outset that we believe we share the same principles of doing the utmost to protect children and we can work together to do so.

Last August, following the disturbing occurrences of violence spurred on by negative actors online, the First Minister wrote to social media companies X, Meta and TikTok, asking them specifically how they are combating the spread of misinformation and what steps are being taken to address racist and hateful speech across their platforms. In response, they assured me that they would work to detect any associated violation of their Terms of Service, and that they have acted to suspend accounts and remove content.

This clearly demonstrates the important role that both our governments must play in ensuring that action is taken by social media companies and other online service providers to protect the public, especially those who are most vulnerable and at risk. However, we believe we all know there is much more work to do, both to address hateful content and misinformation but also to protect our young people online.

We continue to work cooperatively in Scotland with a wide range of statutory and third-sector organisations to promote positive behaviours online to our children and young people, and ensure they are equipped with the knowledge to stay safe and act when they encounter harm. This work is grounded in prevention, early intervention, evidence-based approaches and listening to the needs of children, their parents and carers and our professional workforce.   

We have also taken steps to ensure the needs of Scottish children and young people are reflected in the delivery of the Online Safety Act. To support this, we met with Ofcom’s Scottish leadership in August 2024 to discuss the provisions of the Act to protect children and young people online and the measures Ofcom have proposed to ensure this protection is delivered. This was a productive discussion about how the Scottish Government and Ofcom could work together to tackle online harm including work to develop the media literacy of young people and the wider public.

Furthermore, last year we established a new National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategy Group which will have a strong focus on preventing and tackling online abuse.

However, given the scale of online abuse and exploitation of children and young people it is crucial that our governments do more to work collectively together, and with other national and local partners to further strengthen our action on online safety.

For our part, the First Minister has tasked us to lead the work of the Scottish Government to identify what more can be done to protect children and young people from online harms.

He has also asked us to highlight two related points which the SG believes could be taken forward to provide further protection for people. First, if you intend to use regulations to embed Alternative Dispute Resolution as a key component of delivering the Online Safety Act. We understand you could do this subject to recommendations for Ofcom, and this would bring the UK into line with the European Union’s Digital Services Act and provide a non-judicial form of redress for consumers to resolve complaints with businesses in cases where they are victims of online harm or abuse.

Second, we would like to discuss strengthening the law in the in line with the EU Digital Services Act. This law, which we would be subject to if still within the EU, would provide greater protection and accountability, and increased online safety for consumers, than the existing regulations set out under the Online Safety Act.

We would welcome your views on the points set out in this letter and would like to meet as soon as possible to discuss what actions can be taken to deliver effective protections for children, and the priorities we share to ensure all our children and young people can enjoy positive and safe experiences online.

We look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Natalie Don-Innes MSP
Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise

Siobhian Brown MSP
Minister for Victims and Community Safety