The Online Safety Bill is back – but are you ready?

The Bill’s delay was in part due to the political instability in the UK and concerns from free speech campaigners. The new government has refocused the legislation back on its original aims of protecting children, tackling illegal content while preserving free speech, ensuring tech firms are accountable to their users, and empowering adults to make informed choices.

Key updates to the Bill include:

• Removal of the legal but harmful provisions
• Removal of the harmful communications offence
• Introduction of a new criminal offence for assisting or encouraging self-harm online
• Requirement for social media companies to publish their risk assessments on the dangers their sites pose to children
• Prohibitions preventing social media companies from removing or restricting user-generated content, or suspending or banning users, where their conduct does not breach their terms of service or the law
• Ofcom to be given powers to force companies to publish details on their enforcement practices
• Platforms that specify a minimum age for users, will be required to clearly set out how this is enforced such as through age verification technology

Communicating to your stakeholders

This regulation will be more than a tick box exercise. Technology and social media platforms will need to demonstrate that systems are in place to protect their users. The fallout out from getting things wrong is significant. Non-compliant services can be blocked and face fines of up to £18m or 10% of global annual turnover (whichever is higher). The overall impact is more than financial – as brand reputation and user confidence will also be at risk.

Re-introducing the Bill to Parliament earlier this week the Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, Paul Scully MP, highlighted that the concept at the heart of the legislation is that “tech companies, like those in every other sector, must take responsibility for the consequences of their business decisions”, adding: “as they continue to offer users the latest innovations, they must consider the safety of their users as well as profit”.

Operational transparency, robust safety measures and information to protect end users will all intersect when the Bill comes into force.  Moreover, this means that developing a considered communications strategy will be critical to protecting the reputation of businesses – and more importantly ensuring that end users have the right tools and knowledge to stay safe online.

No technology platform is an island

While the UK’s Online Safety legislation has been delayed, other jurisdictions have been developing their own regimes to tackle online harms. Despite the refocusing of the Bill to its original aims, it remains heavy with obligations that go beyond the scope of other regimes such as the EU Digital Services Act. The significant differences between regimes will make compliance for social media companies operating across jurisdictions more onerous.

As the Bill continues to be scrutinised in Parliament, impacted firms have a small but important window to consider how they will be affected by the wide-ranging legislation and the significant obligations it is set to impose.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals.

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References:

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3137/publications