Tech giants will be told to police their social media platforms under new laws designed to clean up the internet.
Companies like Facebook and Google will be made responsible for finding and removing harmful content such as racist abuse and revenge porn under new UK Government legislation.
The Online Safety Bill makes firms responsible for policing websites to remove harmful content, even before they receive a complaint.
If passed, the new law could see social networks fined up to 10% of their global turnover if they failed to intervene.
The legislation will also add new criminal offences of sending genuinely threatening or knowingly false messages, and also covers revenge porn, human trafficking, extremism and promoting suicide online.
UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said the new bill would be a “notice to the online platforms to say here it is, we’re letting you know what it is now, so start doing what you need to do”.
Asked again if senior executives could find themselves in prison if they did not comply, she said: “Absolutely” – though this was later challenged as incorrect by a leading children’s charity.
And Mary Sharpe, chief executive of the Reward Foundation, which campaigns for age restrictions to accessing porn, added: “These proposals completely miss the point and are ignoring the elephant in the room – online pornography sites. The government promised to include them in this Online Safety Bill when they ditched the age verification for pornography legislation one week before it was due to be implemented back in 2019.
“These superficial changes pay more attention to the free speech of the multi-billion dollar porn industry than to the protection of innocent children.”
The new offences cover communications that are sent to convey a threat of serious harm, those sent to cause harm without a reasonable excuse, and those sent which are known to be false with the intention to cause emotional, psychological or physical harm.
In December, The Sunday Post launched the Respect campaign calling for effective classroom initiatives to help teens understand healthy relationships along with tighter restrictions on online pornography.
SNP culture spokesperson John Nicolson MP, a member of the Westminster joint committee which has been considering the bill, said: “Any abuse which is illegal in everyday life should also be illegal online. And we certainly need to do more to tackle legal but harmful content too.
“As a member of the cross-party Online Safety Bill committee, we have produced recommendations to keep all of us safe on line.
“Abusive behaviour targeting children is rife online, as The Sunday Post’s investigations have shown.
“The big social media companies do little to stop it. And so, I want the UK Government to act. Vastly wealthy social media companies should pay a heavy price when they consistently refuse to protect those who go online – especially young people.”
Andy Burrows, head of child safety online policy at the NSPCC, challenged Dorries’ claim that senior executives could find themselves facing criminal prosecution.
He said: “Despite the rhetoric, the Government’s current proposals mean tech bosses wouldn’t be personally liable for the harmful effects of their algorithms or failing to prevent grooming, and could only be prosecuted for failing to supply information to the regulator.
“It’s clear that unless the Online Safety Bill is strengthened sufficiently, criminal sanctions offer bark but no bite. Children need well-designed regulation that learns lessons from other sectors if the Bill is to match the rhetoric and prevent avoidable abuse.”
The new bill also does not introduce online age verification, something campaigners have called for to prevent children accessing pornography.
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