Online Safety Bill becomes law

The Online Security Bill gained Royal Assent and thus became law in the UK. It aims to protect children from online dangers and give adults more control over content. It places legal responsibility on technology companies to remove illegal content and prevent harmful material distribution to children. With Ofcom being the main regulator, it can impose fines on platforms that do not comply with the law.

The Technology Secretary, Michelle Donelan, highlighted the importance of the law implementation as a historic moment for UK online security. Donelan also added that the emphasis of the Act is on protecting children while ensuring the adequate protection of free speech.

Namely, the Bill obliges social media platforms to:

• Remove illegal content, such as terrorism and revenge pornography,
• Prevent access to harmful content for children, including bullying, content promoting self-harm and eating disorders, and pornography.
• Implement age limits and age verification measures on platforms with harmful content for children,
• Provide transparency about the risks to children on their sites, including risk assessment and
• Provide clear and accessible ways for parents and children to report problems online.

In addition, the Bill provides three layers of protection for adults. These include:

• Removal of illegal content,
• Application of terms and conditions that social media platforms provide to users
• It allows users to filter content they don’t want to see.

Why does it matter?

By imposing legal obligations on technology companies, the Bill aims to ensure the swift removal of illegal and harmful content, shielding young minds from potential dangers. According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, this is a landmark step in addressing and combating harmful content online. At the same time, the UK’s fact-checking organisation, Full Fact, claimed that the Bill did not address how the platforms treat harmful content and mis/disinformation.