Joint Scrutiny Committee on the draft Online Safety Bill - Which? response

Which? welcomes the publication of the draft Online Safety Bill and the announced intention to include fraud within its scope. It is right that the government recognises that the major online platforms we interact with every day have a legal responsibility to protect their users from this type of criminal activity.

However, we have several concerns regarding the draft Bill as currently written, and the Government’s approach to tackling fake and fraudulent content that can lead to a scam more broadly.

At Which? we regularly undertake investigations and consumer research which uncover harms to consumers. Our work in the area of online safety has exposed that online fraud perpetuated by fake and fraudulent content is one of the most frequent and damaging types of consumer harm experienced online.

We welcome the opportunity to share this insight and to provide written evidence to the Joint Scrutiny Committee. Our response below focuses on the questions most relevant to consumers.