Recommendation 9

HM Government · verbatim extract Accepted

Lord David Anderson set out clearly in his ‘Lessons for Prevent’ report in July 2025 the challenges posed by the shift towards online radicalisation. The Home Office and Counter-Terrorism Police continue to adapt to this change, supporting people who are at risk of taking a path towards terrorism from being radicalised online. The Home Office works to influence tech companies to increase action to tackle online content used to radicalise, recruit and incite terrorism by providing bespoke threat assessment, insight and support. This involves engaging a wide variety of online platforms, including social media and messaging services, gaming services, file hosting platforms, and internet service providers. We recognise that there is online content that justifies, advocates, or glorifies violence, which falls below the threshold of UK Terrorism Act (TACT) legislation and yet may contribute to offline violence and radicalisation. This type of borderline content can go uncontested on social media platforms. Therefore, its accessibility, mainstream appeal, and ability to evade moderation makes it a useful tool for terrorists and extremists to engage large audiences and recruit using more accessible narratives. We engage with tech companies to understand to what extent their own terms of service already capture and prohibit this content, how effectively those terms are enforced, and to aid their understanding of how this type of content can evade moderation and be used to recruit and radicalise individuals for terrorist purposes. The UK has one of the strongest regimes in the world to protect children from harm online. Platforms are legally required to protect children from harmful content. We know we must go further to address the impact of social media overuse on young people. On 2 March 2026, the Government launched a National Conversation and a swift, three-month consultation looking at options including a social media ban for under-16s, raising the digital age of consent, curfews to curb excessive screen time, and tougher enforcement of age checks. The consultation closes on 26 May, and the government will respond by the Summer. The Prime Minister has been clear that no platform gets a free pass when it comes to keeping children safe, including where harms are enabled or amplified by AI systems, addictive design features, or rapidly evolving technologies. No single measure is a silver bullet when it comes to online safety. Any action as a result of the consultation must sit alongside wider interventions including safer platform design, robust age-assurance, responsibilities on AI providers, enforcement, and support for parents, professionals and young people. This is a cross-cutting issue with implications across multiple harms the Home Office is responsible for. The Home Office is working closely with DSIT through and after the consultation to act swiftly on the measures. The Government is considering the findings from Phase 1 of Sir Adrian Fulford’s inquiry alongside the recommendations made in Lord Anderson’s ‘Lessons for Prevent’ report. As Sir Adrian Fulford concluded, Prevent and Channel are not the answer for all such cases, however the Government has made improvements since the Southport attack in 2024 to strengthen the Prevent programme. To strengthen Prevent, we have launched a new Prevent risk assessment tool, changed the approach to repeat referrals so that cumulative risk is considered, introduced new guidance and training on a range of ideologies and threats, and have expanded the range of interventions available to people being supported by Channel. We have also introduced the role of Independent Prevent Commissioner. The Government has also strengthened the approach to knife crime, introducing stricter laws in the Crime and Policing Bill for online sellers of knives including strengthening age verification controls and checks at sale and delivery. We are also ensuring every child caught carrying a knife will now be given a mandatory, targeted plan to tackle the root causes of their offending. To address harms online, the Online Safety Act is a significant step forward and one of the most robust systems globally. Platforms now have duties to identify and remove illegal content and to protect children from harmful content, with Ofcom robustly enforcing these duties. Whilst Government has already begun to make improvements to help keep the public safe, there is much more to do. The Government will bring forward legislation to help tackle violence-fixated individuals in this parliamentary session. Proposed measures are a new offence for preparing a mass casualty attack, and measures to prevent the spread of extreme violence content online. On 20 April, the Government announced its commitment to set up a Home Office-led taskforce to develop a new approach to tackling the risk from such individuals. The taskforce will develop an approach to tackling the risk posed by violence fixated individuals and w