New law to force social media platforms to control harmful content
The revised Online Safety Bill has been in work for five years
Last updated 29th May 2022
A law to make the internet safer has reached parliament.
The Online Safety Bill (OSB) will require tech companies and social media platforms to prevent users from being exposed to harmful content.
The OSB has been in the works for five years and has been through many changes. This current OSB will provide the regulator Ofcom with new powers, including the ability to fine companies or to block access to sites which do not comply with the new regulations.
In addition, the OSB gives Ofcom the power to hold company executives criminally liable should they fail to comply with information requests from the regulator. Furthermore, executives will be held criminally liable if they destroy evidence, fail to attend or provide false information in interviews, and also for obstructing the regulator from entering offices.
Legal but harmful
The new Online Safety Bill has also changed its approach to “legal but harmful” content. These are material which is not itself illegal but could cause harm to users who encounter it.
Social media platforms will now be required to address these “legal but harmful” content. Platforms will now be expected to carry out risk assessments on the types of harmful content that may appear on their page. Additionally, platforms will be required to develop a plan to address these content and include this in their terms of service.
But the agreed categories of legal but harmful content will now be set out in secondary legislation approved by Parliament, which the Government says will not leave harmful content debates in the hands of social media executives or cause them to over-remove content over fears of being sanctioned.
Additionally, social media platforms will be required to report child sexual abuse to the National Crime Agency.
The government has, however, said that news content will be exempt from any of the regulations in order to protect free speech.
Free speech
The Online Safety Bill (OSB) went through many changes and took five years after many groups raised concerns. MPs, peers and campaigners warned the initial proposals failed to offer the expected user protection.
Some of the new changes to the draft OSB, including bringing paid-for scam adverts into Ofcom’s scope, a requirement for pornographic websites to ensure users are 18 or older, and to criminalise cyberflashing.
However, some campaigners are worried about the ongoing use of the phrase “legal but harmful” in the OSB, as this could limit free speech.
Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, said using the term amounted to the creation of a "censor's charter.
Mr Killock criticised the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Nadine Dorries.
Mr Killock said, "Unbelievably while acknowledging the sheer amount of power (Facebook executive) Nick Clegg and other Silicon Valley bigwigs already have over what we can say online, Nadine Dorries has created a bill that will grant them even more," he said.