Online safety: Tech bosses to face jail for failing to remove harmful content

Social media bosses will face jail if they repeatedly fail to remove harmful content, under revised government online safety plans.

New changes to the Online Safety Bill announced this week will make senior managers at tech companies criminally liable for failing to act.

The changes are based on similar legislation in Ireland and have come on the back of a campaign by backbench Tory MPs for tougher action.

Parliamentarians have stressed the damaging impact of "online harms" including self-harm and suicide content on children in particular.

Pornography hosted on social media platforms will also be liable under the changes - welcome news to campaigners including CARE.

Other amendments will force firms to publish an assessment of the risk to children on their site arising from illegal or harmful material.

CARE is currently working to see further changes to the Online Safety Bill aimed at curbing online porn, and upholding free expression.

CARE argues that:

• Anyone under the age of 18 is prevented from seeing pornography online. The Bill currently differentiates between different types of websites. The duties on social media companies and user generated pornography companies is a different standard than what is required for other types of online providers. Age verification does not need to be complicated. The law should be, if pornography is hosted anywhere on that site, the operators of that website should take robust steps to stop children access the content.
• The law that regulates what content can be accessed offline in the UK should mirror the law online, the Bill does not do this and material that would be prohibited offline is not prohibited online. CARE continues to campaign to ensure that offline and online content is regulated in exactly the same way.
• All websites and social media companies should ensure that all participants in online content are over 18 and that proper consent has been obtained.
• New provisions on speech must not allow tech companies to decide what is harmful speech as experience shows they will determine harm as being what they disagree with, which could have negative connotations for Christian discourse online.