The UK government鈥檚 long-awaited legislation designed to protect people from 鈥渉armful鈥� content on the internet passed through the House of Commons on 17 January and will now go to the House of Lords for further revisions.
The Online Safety Bill puts the onus squarely on technology companies to spot anything deemed harmful 鈥� but not necessarily illegal 鈥� and remove it, or face stiff consequences. Critics have previously described the bill as well-intentioned, but vague, legislation that is likely to have negative unintended consequences.
The bill was first introduced in the House of Commons in March 2022. Nadine Dorries, then the UK鈥檚 secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, that tech firms 鈥渉aven鈥檛 been held to account when harm, abuse and criminal behaviour have run riot on their platforms鈥�. But it remains unclear how government will decide what is, and what is not, 鈥渉armful鈥� and how technology companies will moderate content according to those decisions.
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What does the bill propose?
The legislation is wide-ranging and has seen many changes since it was first introduced. There will be new criminal offences for individuals, targeting so-called 鈥渃yberflashing鈥� 鈥� sending unsolicited graphic images 鈥� and online bullying.
Technology companies such as Twitter, Google, Facebook and TikTok also get a host of new responsibilities. They have to check all adverts appearing on their platforms to make sure they aren鈥檛 scams, while those that allow adult content will have to verify the age of users to ensure they aren鈥檛 children.
Online platforms will also have to proactively remove anything that is deemed 鈥渉armful content鈥� 鈥� details of what this includes remain unclear, but the announcement today mentioned the examples 鈥渟elf-harm, harassment and eating disorders鈥�.
A mentioned that 鈥渋llegal search terms鈥� would also be banned. New 杏吧原创 asked at the time what would be included in the list of illegal searches, and was told no such list yet existed, and that 鈥渃ompanies will need to design and operate their services to be safe by design and prevent users encountering illegal content. It will be for individual platforms to design their own systems and processes to protect their users from illegal content.鈥�
The bill also gives stronger powers to regulators and watchdogs to investigate breaches: a new criminal offence will be introduced to tackle employees of firms covered by the legislation from tampering with data before handing it over, and another for stopping or obstructing raids or investigations. The regulator Ofcom will have the power to fine companies up to 10 per cent of their annual global turnover.
What has been added?
The government has announced that it will add further amendments to the bill when it goes to the House of Lords. Michelle Donelan, the current secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, on 17 January 2023 that 鈥減osting videos of people crossing the [English] channel which show that activity in a positive light鈥� could be seen as aiding and abetting illegal immigration, and could be made an offence under the new bill. Another amendment would make it possible to jail senior managers at technology firms that fail to keep children safe online, she said.
Will it work?
Speaking in March 2022, at the University of Surrey in the UK said the legislation is being proposed with good intentions, but the devil is in the detail. 鈥淭he first issue comes about when trying to define 鈥榟arm鈥�,鈥� he said. 鈥淒ifferentiating between harm and free speech is fraught with difficulty. Some subjective test doesn鈥檛 really give the sort of certainty a technology company will need if they face being held liable for enabling such content.鈥�
He also said that tech-savvy children will be able to use VPNs, the Tor browser and other tricks to easily get around the measures relating to age verification and user identity.
There are also concerns that the bill will cause technology companies to take a cautious approach to what they allow on their sites that ends up stifling free speech, open discussion and potentially useful content with controversial themes.
at the Open Rights Group, also speaking in March 2022, warned that moderation algorithms created to abide by the new laws will be blunt instruments that end up blocking essential sites. For instance, a discussion forum offering mutual support and advice to those tackling eating disorders, or giving up drugs, could be banned. 鈥淭he platforms are going to try to rely on automated methods because they鈥檙e ultimately cheaper,鈥� he said. 鈥淣one of this has had a great success record.鈥�
Reacting to the , the Wikimedia Foundation, the organisation behind Wikipedia, said that plans to jail tech bosses were 鈥渉arsh鈥� and that the bill as a whole could limit freedom of expression.
When will it become law?
The government hasn鈥檛 started the process of getting the bill through the House of Lords. After that, it will need to be finalised by both houses of Parliament and receive royal assent before it can be made an act and become legally binding. This process could take months or even years.
What do technology companies make of it?
Anything that increases the burden of responsibility and introduces new risks for negligence won鈥檛 be popular with tech firms, and companies that operate globally are unlikely to be pleased at the prospect of having to create new tools and procedures for the UK market alone. Twitter鈥檚 Katy Minshall said in March 2022 that 鈥渁 one-size-fits-all approach fails to consider the diversity of our online environment鈥�. But she added that Twitter would 鈥渓ook forward to reviewing鈥� the bill.
