Labour promises to strengthen ‘weakened’ and ‘gutted’ online safety bill
As a priority for a Labour government, tough new laws will be implemented to protect children from being bombarded by harmful online material.
After meeting with families who lost their children due to exposure to harmful material, the shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell has been given the backing of Keir Starmer, party leader. He will legislate to be one of the first acts in a Labour government if the party wins next election.
Labour’s move comes just weeks after the Conservative government abandoned plans to outlaw online material that was judged to be “legal but dangerous” and dropped proposals to make platforms like Instagram and Facebook liable for severe financial penalties for violating regulations.
Labour stated that it would try to amend the online safety bill back to its original form when it returns in less than two weeks.
Powell stated that Labour would pass legislation as soon as possible to address legal but harmful material. He would also impose harsh new criminal sanctions on anyone who promotes damaging content and create an ombudsman to decide.
Labour is particularly concerned about the prevention of online businesses and algorithms that flood young people with toxic material about suicide and self-harm. The tragic results of such exposure were highlighted by the November 2017 death of Molly Russell.
Powell stated that he met with many families who lost their teenagers to online activity on Saturday and promised them that he would take action. All those who have been hurt online owe us a debt of gratitude.
“Regulation of online life is essential, but instead of strengthening it, the government has weakened, gutted, and delayed it.
“The weakened bill will allow abusers to troll and the business models that big tech will provide these trolls with a platform.
Molly Russell’s family set up the Molly Rose Foundation after Molly Russell died. A spokesperson said that they were happy for this development. “Molly’s case shows clearly how income-generating algorithms can lead to fatal consequences for vulnerable persons.
“It is disappointing that this bill has not been passed into law. It took far too long, with the legislation being diluted already. This risks failing our children.
Michelle Donelan announced the amendments to the bill to Commons on December 5. She stated that safety for children was at the heart of the bill. She acknowledged that she had to remove the “legal but dangerous” provisions because of concerns from her party about threats to freedom speech.
She explained to MPs that it would have meant that the government was creating a quasi legal category – a gray area – and that there was a real risk that platforms would use sweeping takedowns of legitimate content in order to avoid sanctions.
Donelan stated that the bill, as it is now moving through parliament, offered greater protection.
Be the first to leave a reply