Updated Online Safety Bill will be ‘world-leading’, Culture Secretary says

16 March 2022, 13:14

Nadine Dorries
Nadine Dorries comments. Picture: PA

The updated draft Bill will be published on Thursday.

The updated Online Safety Bill will make the UK “the safest place in the world for our children to go online” while also protecting free speech, the Culture Secretary said ahead of the publication of the revamped Bill.

Set to be published and presented to Parliament on Thursday, Nadine Dorries said the draft laws for online safety are now “world-leading” following the addition of new measures after a period of scrutiny by the Government, MPs and peers.

Two separate reports from parliamentary committees – as well as a number of online safety campaigners – had called for major changes to be made to the draft Bill to strengthen it and better protect internet users, particularly children.

It is world-beating. It is world-leading. The rest of the world is watching to see what we do and we will be the first people ever to bring in regulations and legislations which will achieve that and hold those who run these online platforms criminally liable and impose fines if they don’t agree to the legislation that we pass

Nadine Dorries, Culture Secretary

Speaking to ITV’s This Morning, Ms Dorries told hosts Phillip Schofield and Josie Gibson: “This has been a work in progress for five years and, when I arrived in the department, I realised the Bill in the form that it was in just wouldn’t achieve the aim and objectives. It just wasn’t fit.

“So we’ve been working day and night for six months to get the Bill into a place where it would actually make the internet the safest place in the world for our children in this country to go online.

“It is world-beating. It is world-leading. The rest of the world is watching to see what we do and we will be the first people ever to bring in regulations and legislations which will achieve that and hold those who run these online platforms criminally liable and impose fines if they don’t agree to the legislation that we pass.”

The overall aim of the Bill is to require online platforms – where users interact with one another – to conform to a duty of care to their users and remove content that is illegal or considered harmful under the new rules, with large fines and the prospect of sites being blocked among the potential penalties.

The Government has already confirmed a number of the changes being made to the Bill, including bringing scam advertising into scope, requiring sites that host pornographic material to verify the age of their users and clamping down on anonymous accounts.

Ms Dorries previously said criminal liability for named managers at internet companies – as an additional punishment for failing to protect users – would be introduced more swiftly than the first draft suggested.

She said algorithms which help decide what sort of content to show users based on their online habits would also come under more scrutiny.

“It’s the algorithms that cause the harm, so this Bill will compel those platforms to expose those algorithms to our regulator so they can pick up where the harm is happening and hold those platforms to account,” she told This Morning.

Asked about concerns over free speech under the new rules, Ms Dorries said journalistic content would be protected “providing it’s legal”.

“And if those platforms remove something – they have to notify that journalist that they are about to remove that content, they have to say why, and they give the journalist the right to appeal – and the content remains online while that happens, so they have a process now,” she said.

By Press Association

More Technology News

See more More Technology News

People ride an upward escalator next to the Dior store at the Icon Siam shopping mall on June 12, 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Luxury fashion giant Dior latest high-profile retailer to be hit by cyber attack as customer data accessed

A plane spotter with binoculars from behind watching a British Airways plane landing

‘Flying taxis’ could appear in UK skies as early as 2028, minister says

Apple App Store

Take on Apple and Google to boost UK economy, think tank says

A survey of more than 1,000 employers found that around one in eight thought AI would give them a competitive edge and would lead to fewer staff.

One in three employers believe AI will boost productivity, research finds

Hands on a laptop showing an AI search

One in three employers believe AI will boost productivity, research finds

Music creators and politicians take part in a protest calling on the Government to ditch plans to allow AI tech firms to steal their work without payment or permission opposite the Houses of Parliament in London.

Creatives face a 'kind-of apocalyptic moment’ over AI concerns, minister says

Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary on Lake Victoria, Uganda

Chimps use medicinal plants to treat each other's wounds and practice 'self-care' as scientists hail fascinating discovery

Close up of a person's hands on the laptop keyboard

Ofcom investigating pornography site over alleged Online Safety Act breaches

The Monzo app on a smartphone

Monzo customers can cancel bank transfers if they quickly spot an error

Co-op sign

Co-op to re-stock empty shelves as it recovers from major hack

The study said that it was often too easy for adult strangers to pick out girls online and send them unsolicited messages.

Social media platforms are failing to protect women and girls from harm, new research reveals

Peter Kyle leaves 10 Downing Street, London

Government-built AI tool used to cut admin work for human staff

In its last reported annual headcount in June 2024, Microsoft employed 228,000 full-time workers

Microsoft axes 6,000 jobs despite strong profits in recent quarters

Airbnb logo

Airbnb unveils revamp as it expands ‘beyond stays’ to challenge hotel sector

A car key on top of a Certificate of Motor Insurance and Policy Schedule

Drivers losing thousands to ghost broker scams – the red flags to watch out for

Marks and Spencer cyber attack

M&S customers urged to ‘stay vigilant’ for fraud after data breach confirmed