UK backs down on prosecution of social media executives over harmful content

Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden today set out the government’s response to the consultation on the Online Harms White Paper, which will lead to the introduction of an Online Harms Bill next year.

The bill will provide for Ofcom to slap companies with fines of up to £18 million or 10 per cent of turnover, whichever is higher, for failing in their duty of care.

The new fines regime is similar to that announced by the Irish government last week, but the UK legislation, unlike its Irish counterpart, shies away from creating new criminal offences, at least in the short-term.

Ireland’s Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill will include a provision allowing the DPP to seek to hold influential position holders in a designated online service criminally liable in cases where the service fails to comply with a warning notice from the new Online Safety Commissioner.

The UK legislation will include provisions to impose criminal sanctions on “senior managers”, but these will not be brought into force unless companies “fail to take the new rules seriously”.

If companies do not adapt to the new rules, the UK government will bring criminal sanctions into force through secondary legislation laid in Parliament, it said.

Mr Dowden said: “Today Britain is setting the global standard for safety online with the most comprehensive approach yet to online regulation. We are entering a new age of accountability for tech to protect children and vulnerable users, to restore trust in this industry, and to enshrine in law safeguards for free speech.

“This proportionate new framework will ensure we don’t put unnecessary burdens on small businesses but give large digital businesses robust rules of the road to follow so we can seize the brilliance of modern technology to improve our lives.”