The government is facing calls to 'slim down' its Online Safety Bill over concerns about its potential impact on citizens' freedom and privacy.
As the bill makes its way through Parliament, new research warns that it will provide ministers with 'unprecedented' powers over cyber security and free speech. The legislation is set to require online platforms to legally protect users from harmful content, bringing with it set penalties if found in breach.
While Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has said it will make the UK "the safest place in the world for our children to go online", some former ministers have claimed the Bill "panders to the view of the perennially offended". Warnings have also stated that the bill could end up being "one of the most significant accidental infringements on free speech in modern times."
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A new briefing paper from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) think tank states that the Bill encourages platforms to use "cautious and censorious" automated tools under the guise of public safety against content that is "only reasonably considered to be illegal". It adds that the legislation will hand the Secretary of State and Ofcom "unprecedented powers to define and limit speech, with limited parliamentary or judicial oversight".
Concerns by the think tanks that were also raised include the potential requirements from people to prevent them from encountering illegal or harmful material online, such as general monitoring of users content or use of age verification processes. It alleges that the new law will impose "Byzantine requirements" on thousands of companies operating in the UK.
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Two former Cabinet ministers voiced their concerns regarding the Bill. Lord Frost said that the best thing the government could do with the Bill is slim it down to allow it to "proceed rapidly with the genuinely uncontroversial aspects, and consign the rest where it belongs – the waste paper basket”.
Former Brexit Secretary David Davis also said: "While the Government no doubt has good intentions, in its current form the Bill could end up being one of the most significant accidental infringements on free speech in modern times.”
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