This week the government's new world-leading
online safety laws will face their final stages in the Houses of Parliament.
The Online Safety Bill marks a milestone in the fight for a new
digital age which is safer for users and holds tech giants and social media
companies to account. The Bill will protect children from harmful content such
as pornography and limit people’s exposure to illegal content, while also
protecting freedom of speech.
In the digital age we now live in, the
internet is vital not only in our day-to-day lives, helping us to connect with
loved ones, but also for businesses. Almost every part of our lives is at least now
partly online. That
is why it is so important that we protect vulnerable people, including our children and young people,
from potential harm and make the internet a safe place for all users.
This Bill establishes a world-leading legislative framework which
will protect children and empower adults online by requiring social media platforms,
search engines and other apps and websites allowing people to post their own
content to protect children, tackle illegal activity and uphold their stated
terms and conditions.
The regulator Ofcom will have the power to fine companies
failing to comply with the laws up to ten per cent of their annual global
turnover, force them to improve their practices and block non-compliant sites.
In my role in Government, I was responsible for ensuring this
historic piece of legislation passed through the Commons and we are now
approaching a watershed
moment in online safety with the government on track to deliver the most
consequential child protection legislation in a generation.
Following careful scrutiny of the Bill during its parliamentary
progress, the government has amended the Bill to ensure its regulatory
framework remains robust and proportionate. Throughout the Bill’s passage, the
government has listened carefully to the views of stakeholders,
Parliamentarians, and victims of online crime and abuse and made a number of
amendments to strengthen the Bill’s further.
These include strengthening protections for children from
pornography; adding provisions so that Ofcom can hold companies and senior
managers - where they are at fault - criminally liable if the provider fails to
comply with Ofcom’s enforcement notices in relation to specific child safety
duties or to child sexual exploitation and abuse on their service; requiring
Ofcom to produce guidance setting out in one place how companies can tackle
online violence against women and girls; and adding additional safeguards for
Ofcom’s use of the last-resort power to require platforms to use accredited
technology to detect child sexual exploitation and abuse material on their
services, or to use best endeavours to develop such technologies if they do not
exist.
These changes strike a balance between protecting children,
protecting privacy, and ensuring predators are not able to exploit
technological advances in the future – which is particularly important with
regard to AI.
I am aware that some campaigners have raised concerns about what
the Bill does or does not say and there have been a number of misleading
statements about the implications of the Bill so it is important to be clear.
This Bill seeks to increase user safety online; preserve and
enhance freedom of speech online; improve law enforcement’s ability to tackle
illegal content online; improve users’ ability to keep themselves safe online,
and also improve society’s understanding of the harm landscape. It places
responsibility on social media companies to take responsibility for harmful and
illegal content to ensure the internet is a safe place for users, particularly
children.
The legislation is expected to become law by the end of this
year and while I appreciate that there will always be some who are quick to
criticise the government whether that be that the Bill does not go far enough
to protect users to disagreeing over the extent the government and online
platforms should be able to monitor user content, I firmly believe this
legislation can only be a positive step in the right direction.
Our criminal law must also be fit for the
digital age and provide the protections that victims deserve, and I am looking
forward to the working with the government to ensure the internet is a safe
place for all users.
If you require my assistance on any matter,
please get in touch with my office by calling 01726 829379 or email office@stevedouble.org.uk
