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Social media giants questioned on online safety and influencer culture

17 January 2022

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee holds two separate evidence sessions. The first is from the DCMS Committee’s inquiry into Influencer Culture, the second is from the DCMS Sub-Committee on Online Harms and Disinformation’s inquiry into Online safety and online harms.  

Influencer culture

Witnesses

Tuesday 18 January 2022

At 10.00am

  • Iain Bundred, Head of Public Policy, UK & Ireland, YouTube
  • Elizabeth Kanter, Director Government Relations UK, Ireland, Netherlands & Israel, TikTok
  • Ronan Costello, Senior Public Policy Manager, Twitter
  • Tom Gault, UK and Northern Europe Public Policy Lead, Instagram

This fifth session of the inquiry into influencer culture will investigate how far social media giants are expected to comply with regulation around advertisement disclosure and discuss protections for children in influencer content.

The session is also expected to examine employment security and pay transparency for influencers, as well as the work social media companies are doing to ensure representation and diversity.

The DCMS Sub-Committee on online safety and online harms will run a separate session following on from this one, examining how social media companies are preparing for the Online Safety Bill.

Online safety and online harms

Witnesses

Tuesday 18 January 2022

At 11.00am

  • Iain Bundred, Head of Public Policy, UK & Ireland, YouTube
  • Elizabeth Kanter, Director Government Relations UK, Ireland, Netherlands & Israel, TikTok
  • Niamh McDade, Deputy Head of UK Policy, Twitter
  • Richard Earley, UK Public Policy Manager, Meta

In this follow-on session YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, and Meta (formerly Facebook) are expected to outline their preparations for the upcoming Online Safety Bill.

The Sub-Committee is likely to examine the platforms’ measures to protect women and girls and prevent child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Representatives for the social media companies are also likely to be questioned on areas previously explored in the Online safety and online harms inquiry.

These include protections for online journalism, duties to uphold freedom of speech, and the treatment of content of democratic importance.

Further information

Inquiry: CC0