UK: New Legislation for Online Safety
Contributing to its mission to ensure that the UK has “the safest online space” whilst maintaining the right to freedom of expression, back in March this year, a revised version of the draft Online Safety Bill (the “OSB”) was introduced to the UK Parliament, a year after the initial draft was first published.
The aim of the OSB is to fight and eradicate unlawful material online – specifically in relation to issues such as child sexual exploitation/abuse and terrorism - to allow users to control the types of lawful content that they encounter online. The OSB imposes regulations on both online platforms, which provide user-generated content, and on search engines.
The UK government aims to protect users online whilst maintaining their commitment to freedom of speech in the UK.
Ofcom are the UK communications regulator and are regulator of the OSB. Under this legislation, Ofcom possess the powers required to take adequate action against and gather information of any companies that should be complying with the OSB.
Around 63% of the world’s total population use the internet, equating to 5 billion people globally. The widespread use of the internet means that to ensure the UK user’s safety, Ofcom must sanction any companies that come under the category of those who must comply, regardless of its location.
Any online platforms that provide user-generated content or enable UK individuals to communicate with others (messaging, comments or forums) must comply with the regulations introduced by this Bill. The user-generated content includes images, videos and comments.
News providers are not included in the companies covered by the OSB, in order to protect freedom of speech in the UK. The OSB clearly explains what platforms come under the threshold of a news publisher.
Social media platforms, of which a staggering 57.6 million UK individuals use, are included within the scope of the OSB and will have to comply with these regulations. In fact, any online sites offering forums and messaging services, certain online games, cloud storage providers and pornography sites are also in the scope of those who must comply with the OSB. Adding to this, search engines are included and must ensure users have limited access to harmful content.
Codes of practice will be released to aid companies with their compliance under the OSB and Ofcom will have the power to impose behaviour changes on these companies if their measures are not aligned with the regulations.
The DCMS Secretary of State and Ofcom will determine a threshold for big and high-risk platforms. Any companies identified under this threshold must clearly show in their terms and conditions the legal content that can be put on their sites by users and ensure these are accessible to users. Through this, adults can decide whether to use this specific platform.
It is essential that platforms look at the access that children have to their individual sites and put procedures in place to protect them from any harmful content. This includes restricting access to certain content, such as pornography, and protect children from activity which could be harmful, for example bullying.
A significant requirement under the OSB is to provide a clear and easy way for users (or users’ parents) to complain to the platforms about events or content that is online. In addition, any sexual abuse or exploitation content that is posted online requires platforms to inform the National Crime Agency.
Since releasing the revised draft of the OSB, a number of changes have been made, adding to the requirements already set by the initial draft. Priority offences have been introduced, allowing faster action to be taken by Ofcom against those who do not remove the illegal content. This demonstrates the commitment to ensuring illegal content is being removed and therefore providing safety for users online. A further prevention of anonymous abuse comes in the form of providers given adults the option to verify their identity online.
Ofcom will fine platforms and search engines, if the regulations are not complied with, up to £18 million or 10% of the companies’ annual turnover, whichever is higher. If the companies’ do not agree with what is imposed, there will be procedures to apply to court for business disruption measures. If senior managers fail to establish compliance or destroy information, criminal sanctions could be imposed upon them.
Therefore, with the OSB planned to be coming into force around the end of 2022, if the timeline is kept to, it is important for online service providers that either possess user-generated content or are search engines to assess their content and who accesses them. The content portrayed on these platforms must be clearly demonstrated in terms and conditions, so users are able to choose what content they view.
If you have any questions on this matter, please contact info@gerrishlegal.com for further assistance!
Article by Gabrielle O’Sullivan, July 2022.