British Online Safety Act Is Now Law

Uploaded on 2023-11-09 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Social Media, GOVERNMENT-National, FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Services-Law

The UK government's controversial Online Safety Bill, which aims to make the Internet safer for children, became law at the beginning of November. The new Law aims to force technology firms to take more responsibility for the content on their platforms.

It will be overseen by Ofcom and take a zero-tolerance approach to protecting children from online harm, while empowering adults with more choices over what they see online.

The law imposes a statutory obligation on certain Online Service Providers (OSPs) to comply with protective measures and requirements in respect of users.

As such, OSPs will be expected to assess and mitigate the risks of harmful illegal content. This follows rigorous scrutiny discussion within the UK House of Commons and the House of Lords. “Today will go down as an historic moment that ensures the online safety of British society not only now, but for decades to come,” said Michelle Donelan, the technology secretary as it "ensures the online safety of British society not only now, but for decades to come."

While the principal aim of the legislation is to protect children, there have been widespread concerns about the implications for privacy.

What is the Online Safety Bill?

The Law unambiguously places the responsibility to protect children from some legal but harmful material on the firms operating online platforms, with the UK regulator, Ofcom, given enforcement powers including powers to levy significant penalties. It introduces new rules - including a requirement for porn websites sites to protect stop children from explicit content using age verification. Platforms will also need to show they are committed to removing illegal content including:

Child sexual abuse
Controlling or coercive behaviour
Extreme sexual violence
Illegal immigration and people smuggling
Promoting or facilitating suicide
Promoting self-harm
Animal cruelty
Selling illegal drugs or weapons
Terrorism

Various entirely new offences have been created, including cyber-flashing - sending unsolicited sexual imagery online, sharing deepfake pornography. and measures enabling bereaved parents to obtain information about their children from online platforms. Under the act Ofcom has powers to compel messaging services to examine the contents of encrypted messages for child abuse material have proved especially controversial.

Failing to comply with the act’s rules could land companies with fines of up to £18 million or around $22 million, or 10 percent of their global annual turnover, whichever is higher, and their bosses could even face prison.

“The Online Safety Act’s strongest protections are for children. Social media companies will be held to account for the appalling scale of child sexual abuse occurring on their platforms and our children will be safer,” said Home Secretary Suella Braverman. “We are determined to combat the evil of child sexual exploitation wherever it is found, and this Act is a big step forward.”

In response, social media platforms including WhatsApp, Signal and iMessage say they cannot access or view anybody's messages without destroying existing privacy protections for all users and have threatened to leave the UK rather than compromise message security. WhatsApp has threatened to withdraw it service from the UK market.

Gov.UK: PWC: BBC: Independent: The Verge: UKTech: Image: finelightarts

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