Culture Secretary: I'll remove free speech threat from Online Safety Bill

The Culture Secretary has pledged to address problem elements of the government's flagship online safety legislation to to protect free speech.

In an interview with Radio 4, Michelle Donelan MP said officials will look at controversial provisions targeting "legal but harmful" content online.

Civil liberties groups have warned speech which is merely offensive or controversial could be censored under this vague definition.

The Online Safety Bill will force tech platforms to root out harmful online content or face stiff penalties from British state regulator Ofcom.

Whilst pledging to defend free speech, Donelan said measures in the Online Safety Bill aimed at protecting children won't be watered down.

She said: "The bits in relation to children and online safety will not be changing. And that is the overarching objective of the Bill, and why we put it in our manifesto. We will be ensuring that children are protected."

CARE takes a nuanced view on the Online Safety Bill. We believe children are being failed badly under current laws - online protections do not match those in the offline world. Some of the measures we have championed for years are potentially introduced by the Bill.

The Bill introduces age verification that would stop children accessing pornographic content, but the legislation needs to go much further in protecting both children and women from the harms of unregulated pornographic content online. We hope to work across the political spectrum to ensure pornography is properly regulated online.

At the same time, we recognise and agree with concerns raised about free expression. Targeting 'legal but harmful' speech is highly problematic. The fundamental problem with the Bill is that it regulates providers of content rather than the content itself. Provisions for keeping children safe and ending violence against women and girls cannot be legislated for in the same way as provisions aimed at free speech.

On balance, we believe a reduced version of the Online Safety Bill should be taken forward by the new UK administration, that deals with pornographic content, while the Government thinks again about how or even if, speech should be regulated online. That seems to be the stance taken by the remaining candidates.

The UK Government will face political pressure from different sides. Loud voices within the Tory party itself want to see the online safety regime dropped altogether. With challenges remaining before effective and balanced implementation, that could be a tempting option for Liz Truss as new PM. Or a delay to the plans which sees them fail to resurface.

We must pray that Ministers will stick to their guns and ensure that legislation comes into forces that both protects children, regulates pornography and respects freedoms. With careful thought and some changes to aspects of the current bill, we have every confidence this can be achieved.