Online Safety Bill

UK government denies fresh delay to Online Safety Bill will derail it • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 27, 2022Posted in digital regulation, Government & Policy, Michelle Donelan, online child safety, Online Safety BillNo Comments

The UK government has denied a fresh parliamentary delay to the Online Safety Bill will delay the legislation’s passage. The legislation is a core plank of the government’s 2019 manifesto promise to make the UK the safest place in the world to go online, introducing a regime ministers want to will drive a new era of accountability over the content that online platforms make available. PoliticsHome spotted the change to the House of Commons schedule last night, reporting that the bill had been dropped from the Commons business for the second time in four months — despite a recent pledge by secretary of state for digital, Michelle Donelan, that it would return in the autumn. The earlier ‘pause’ in the bill’s progress followed the ousting of ex-(ex)prime minister Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader over the summer which was followed by a lengthy leadership contest. Prime minister Liz Truss, who prevailed in the contest to replace Johnson as PM (but is now also an ex-PM), quickly put the brakes on the draft legislation over concerns about its impact on freedom of speech — the area that’s attracted the most controversy for the government. Then, last month, Donelan confirmed provisions in the bill dealing with ‘legal but harmful speech would be changed. A source in the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) told ZebethMedia that the latest delay to the bill’s parliamentary timetable is to allow time for MPs to read these new amendments — which they also confirmed are yet to be laid. But they suggested the delay will not affect the passage of the bill, saying it will progress within the next few weeks. They added that the legislation remains a top priority for the government. A DCMS spokesperson also provided this statement in response to questions about the fresh delay and incoming amendments: “Protecting children and stamping out illegal activity online is a top priority for the government and we will bring the Online Safety Bill back to Parliament as soon as possible.” The government is now being led by another new prime minister — Rishi Sunak — who took over from Truss after she resigned earlier this month, following the market’s disastrous reception to her economic reforms. The change of PM may not mean major differences in policy approach in the arena of online regulation as Sunak has expressed similar concerns about the Online Safety Bill’s impact on free speech — also seemingly centered on clauses pertaining to restrictions on the ‘legal but harmful’ speech of adults. In August, The Telegraph reported a spokesman for Sunak (who was then just a leadership candidate) saying: “Rishi has spoken passionately as a dad about his desire to protect children online from content no parent would want their children to see – from violence, self harm and suicide to pornography. “As Prime Minister he would urgently legislate to protect children. His concern with the bill as drafted is that it censors free speech amongst adults which he does not support. Rishi believes the Government has a duty to protect children and crack down on illegal behaviour, but should not infringe on legal and free speech.” However, it remains to be seen how exactly the bill will be amended under Sunak’s watch. Delays as amendments are considered and introduced could still threaten the bill’s passage if it ends up running out of parliamentary time to go through all the required stages of scrutiny. Parliamentary sessions typically run from spring to spring. While there are only around two years left before Sunak will have to call a general election. So the clock is ticking. The Online Safety Bill has already been years in the making, swelling in scope and ambition via a grab-bag of add-ons and late stage additions — from bringing scam ads into the regulation to measures aimed at tackling anonymous trolling, to name two of many. Critics like the digital rights group the ORG argue the bill is hopelessly cluttered, fuzzily drafted and legally incoherent — warning it will usher in a chilling regime of speech policing by private companies and the tone-deaf automated algorithms they will be forced to deploy to shrink their legal risk. There are also concerns about how the legislation might affect end-to-end encryption if secure messaging platforms are also forced to monitor content — with the potential for it to lead to the adoption of controversial technologies like client-side scanning. While the administrative burden and costs of compliance will undoubtedly saddle scores of digital businesses with lots of headaches. Despite having no shortage of critics, the bill has plenty of supporters too, though — including the opposition Labour party, which offered to work with the government to get the bill passed. Children’s safety campaigners and charities have also been loudly urging lawmakers to get on and pass legislation to protect kids online. The recent inquest into the suicide of British schoolgirl, Molly Russell — who was found to have binge-consumed (and been algorithmically fed) content about depression and self harm on social media platforms including Instagram and Pinterest before she killed herself — has added further impetus to safety campaigners’ cause. The coroner concluded that that “negative effects of online content” were a factor in Russell’s death. His report also urged the government to regulate the sector.

Coroner’s report into UK schoolgirl’s suicide urges social media regulation • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 14, 2022Posted in Government & Policy, Instagram, molly russell coroner's report, Online Safety Bill, Pinterest, Social, social media regulationNo Comments

A ‘Prevention of Future Deaths’ report following a U.K. coroner’s inquest into the suicide of British schoolgirl, Molly Russell, who killed herself almost five years ago after viewing content on social media websites that promoted self harm, has recommended the government looks at requiring age verification on sign-up to social platforms to ensure the separation of age-appropriate content for adults and children. The inquest into Russell’s death heard she binge-consumed content about suicide and depression on sites including Instagram and Pinterest — some of which was algorithmically curated for her, based on the platforms tracking her viewing habits — before taking her own life, aged 14. Coroner, Andrew Walker, concluded last month that “negative effects of online content” were a factor in her death, adding that such content “shouldn’t have been available for a child to see”. His ‘Prevention of Future Deaths’ report — which was made public today after being sent to a number of social media firms and to the government — also recommends that lawmakers consider setting up of an independent regulatory body to monitor online platform content, paying special attention to children’s access to harmful content and to content-shaping elements like algorithmic curation and advertising. Additionally, the coroner’s report recommends that the government reviews provisions for parental controls on social media platforms accessed by kids and considers powers that would provide caregivers with access to content viewed by children. “I recommend that consideration is given to enacting such legislation as may be necessary to ensure the protection of children from the effects of harmful online content and the effective regulation of harmful online content,” he adds, before urging platforms not to wait for a change in the law. “Although regulation would be a matter for Government I can see no reason why the platforms themselves would not wish to give consideration to self-regulation taking into account the matters raised above.” Tech companies including Meta (Instagram’s owner), Pinterest, Snap and Twitter have been given 56 days to respond to the coroner’s report — with a deadline of December 8 for them to provide details of any actions taken or proposed (setting out a timetable for proposed actions), or else they must provide the coroner with an explanation why no action is being proposed by them. We reached out to the companies for a response to the coroner’s report. At the time of writing Meta had not responded. A Pinterest spokeswoman told us it has received the report and plans to respond by the due date. In a statement, the social sharing site added: Our thoughts are with the Russell family. We’ve listened very carefully to everything that the Coroner and the family have said during the inquest. Pinterest is committed to making ongoing improvements to help ensure that the platform is safe for everyone and the Coroner’s report will be considered with care. Over the past few years, we’ve continued to strengthen our policies around self-harm content, we’ve provided routes to compassionate support for those in need and we’ve invested heavily in building new technologies that automatically identify and take action on self-harm content. Molly’s story has reinforced our commitment to creating a safe and positive space for our Pinners. A Snap spokeswoman also confirmed it has received a copy of the Coroner’s report and said it’s reviewing it and will respond within the requested timeframe. A spokeswoman for Twitter also confirmed it has received the report too but said the company has nothing further to add. The U.K. government has already proposed legislation aimed at making the U.K. the safest place to go online in the world, as it touts its plan for the Online Safety Bill — a piece of legislation that’s been years in the making and has a stated focus on children’s safety. The bill also empowers a content-focused internet regulator, Ofcom, to enforce the rules. However the Online Safety Bill’s progress through parliament was put on pause by the recent Conservative Party leadership contest. Since then, the new prime minister, Liz Truss, and the new secretary of state she appointed to head up the department, Michelle Donelan, have extended that pause by freezing the bill to make changes — specifically to provisions tackling the area of ‘legal but harmful’ content in response to concerns about the impact on freedom of expression. There is no fresh timetable for restarting the bill. But with limited parliamentary time left before a general election must be called, and — more pressingly — widespread chaos across Truss’ government, it is looking increasingly likely the bill will fail to pass — leaving platforms to continue self regulating the bulk of their content moderation. (An age appropriate children’s design code is being enforced in the UK, though.) We contacted the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) for a response to the coroner’s report. A spokesman at DCMS told us it would send a statement “shortly” — but six hours (and minus one chancellor) later we’re still waiting to receive it. Calls to the DCMS press office line were being routed to voicemail. (But SoS Donelan was spotted busily tweeting the latest Truss ‘hold-the-fractious-government-together’ line — which includes the unfortunate appeal that we “must come together and focus on delivering”) In a statement to the press following the coroner’s report, Molly Russell’s father Ian called for social media firms to get their house in order without waiting to be ordered to do so by unruly lawmakers. “We urge social media companies to heed the coroner’s words and not drag their feet waiting for legislation and regulation, but instead to take a proactive approach to self-regulation to make their platforms safer for their young users,” he said, adding: “They should think long and hard about whether their platforms are suitable for young people at all.”