Photograph by Ron Lach, Pexels
Featured image: Ron Lach/ Pexels, 2022

UK’s landmark Online Safety Bill returned to the House of Commons on Monday for debate after three years of publishing the first draft.

The proposed law holds social media firms accountable, especially for safeguarding children on the internet.

The amendments would force media behemoths to disclose the amount of risk their websites pose for children to the parents of minor users.

These companies are required to take preventive measures to deal with Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA) offences.

Leading internet watchdog in the UK, Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which prioritises eliminating child sexual abuse material from the web, welcomed the move.

Press Officer of IWF Cat McShane said that the organisation “look forward to seeing more detail around exactly what will be expected of the tech companies in the scope of the Bill” to set the route map accordingly.

If the Bill passes, it will be a prerequisite for social media platforms to deliver age-appropriate content. They will be required to disclose the information of age verification technology which would be in use, in their terms and conditions.

Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan, stated in a press release: “Young people will be safeguarded, criminality stamped out and adults are given control over what they see and engage with online.”

“We now have a binary choice: to get these measures into law and improve things or squabble in the status quo and leave more young lives at risk.”

Crime statistics released by Home Office in July 2022 recorded a tenfold rise in online child sexual abuse cases in England and Wales over the past decade.

The country’s major children’s charity NSPCC’s research has unveiled a figure of 3,500 monthly sexual offences against children.

In a press release, the Molly Rose Foundation hailed "a significant move" to the criminalisation of promoted self-harm.

The Foundation said: “It not only criminalises those who do the encouraging, but also turns this activity into an illegal offence – which means that even if the harmful but legal clauses in the Bill are removed or curtailed, such content would still be legislated against.”

Ian, Molly Russell's father, has long advocated for protecting children against internet algorithms that promote hate and harm, since her death in November 2017.

Molly, his adolescent schoolgirl from Harrow, was found dead in bed after accessing web content on suicide and self-harm.

The Labour Party's MPs expressed fear about the future of the bill, criticising the delay.

Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Digital Culture Media and Sport, Lucy Powell said the government has “bowed to vested interests over the safety of children and users” on the internet.

The Bill was initially prescribed in 2019 under the Online Harms White Paper during former Prime Minister Theresa May’s tenure.

This year, the discussion was postponed in July to accommodate Boris Johnson’s call for a confidence motion within the Tory government.

 

The featured image is for representational purposes only.