Plymouth MP warns Online Safety Bill must change to stop further tragedies
Labour MP Luke Pollard was speaking in Parliament last night
Last updated 18th Jan 2023
Future tragedies linked to incel culture may not be prevented by the Online Safety Bill unless changes are made, Labour MP Luke Pollard has warned.
Five people were shot dead by Jake Davison in the Keyham area of Plymouth in August 2021.
Davison's social media suggests he was obsessed with incel (involuntary celibate) culture, subscribing to a YouTube channel called Incel TV. That's people who don't think they can attract another person romantically, despite wanting to.
Mr Pollard, the MP for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport, told the Commons on Tuesday that the Online Safety Bill does not go far enough to protect people from what he described as the dangers of incel culture.
He was speaking during the Bill's report stage debate, and urged MPs to ensure tackling incel content was a threshold sites must reach.
He said: "I really want to rid the internet of the disgusting, festering incel culture that is capturing so many of our young people and young men in particular.
"And in particular I want minimum standards to apply to make sure that on big and small platforms where there's a risk, that minimum standard includes recognition of incel content.
"Because at the moment incel content is festering in the darkest corners of the internet where young men are taught to channel their frustrations into an insidious hatred of women. And taught to think of themselves as brothers in arms in a war against women."
"I believe that incel culture is a growing threat online that has real-world consequences. And incels are targeting young men to swell their numbers, young people, children to swell their numbers," he said.
"This Bill doesn't remove incel content online, and therefore doesn't prevent potentially future tragedies," Mr Pollard added.
The MP also warned about video linked to incel culture being accessible on mainstream platforms.
He said: "Five of the most popular incel channels on YouTube have racked up 140,00 subscribers and 24 million views between them. YouTube is still platforming four of five of them. Why?
"How can these channels apparently pass YouTube's terms and conditions? The content is truly harrowing. In these YouTube videos, men who have murdered women are described as saints, lauded in the incel culture."
He called for Ofcom's powers in the Bill to be expanded to regulate smaller websites "on the basis of risk".
A YouTube spokesperson said in a statement: "YouTube has strict policies that prohibit hate speech and harassment on our platform, and we remove content that targets or threatens individuals or groups based on protected attributes, such as their gender identity and expression."