UK Government To Set New Regulations For Social Media Companies

UK’s telecommunication regulator, Ofcom, will have the power to
make tech firms responsible for protecting people from harmful
content under a new bill to be presented to Parliament next year,
an official said.

Harmful content such as violence, terrorism, suicide content,
cyber-bullying, and child abuse will be regulated, the UK
government said on Tuesday.

Under the new Online Safety Bill, social media sites, websites,
apps, and other services that host user-generated content or allow
people to talk to others online that fail to remove and limit the
spread of such harmful content will face fines of up to £18 million
(24 million dollars) or ten per cent of their annual global
turnover.

“We are giving internet users the protection they deserve and
are working with companies to tackle some of the abuses happening
on the web.

“We will not allow child sexual abuse, terrorist material, and
other harmful content to fester on online platforms.

“Tech companies must put public safety first or face the
consequences,” Home Secretary Priti Patel said, as quoted in the
official statement.

Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said that with the introduction
of the new regulations the UK is setting the global standard for
safety online.

“I’m unashamedly pro-tech but that can’t mean a tech-free for
all,” he said.

The new regulations, which will apply to any company hosting
user-generated content online that can be accessed by people in the
UK or enables them to interact with others online, will establish
different responsibilities for each tech company, based on a
categorized approach.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram, and
Twitter, for example, will be in Category 1.

Category 1 means that they will need to assess the risk of legal
content or activity on their services with “a reasonably
foreseeable risk of causing significant physical or psychological
harm to adults”.

They will also be required to ensure users are able to easily
report harmful content or activity and will need to publish
transparency reports about the steps they are taking to tackle
online harms.

Dangote adbanner 728x90_2 (1)

Category 2 will be reserved for platforms hosting dating
services or pornography and private messaging apps, while financial
harms such as fraud and the sale of unsafe goods will be excluded
from this framework to avoid replication of existing
regulations.

(Sputnik/NAN)

UK’s telecommunication regulator, Ofcom, will have the power to
make tech firms responsible for protecting people from harmful
content under a new bill to be presented to Parliament next year,
an official said.

Harmful content such as violence, terrorism, suicide content,
cyber-bullying, and child abuse will be regulated, the UK
government said on Tuesday.

Under the new Online Safety Bill, social media sites, websites,
apps, and other services that host user-generated content or allow
people to talk to others online that fail to remove and limit the
spread of such harmful content will face fines of up to £18 million
(24 million dollars) or ten per cent of their annual global
turnover.

“We are giving internet users the protection they deserve and
are working with companies to tackle some of the abuses happening
on the web.

“We will not allow child sexual abuse, terrorist material, and
other harmful content to fester on online platforms.

“Tech companies must put public safety first or face the
consequences,” Home Secretary Priti Patel said, as quoted in the
official statement.

Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said that with the introduction
of the new regulations the UK is setting the global standard for
safety online.

“I’m unashamedly pro-tech but that can’t mean a tech-free for
all,” he said.

The new regulations, which will apply to any company hosting
user-generated content online that can be accessed by people in the
UK or enables them to interact with others online, will establish
different responsibilities for each tech company, based on a
categorized approach.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram, and
Twitter, for example, will be in Category 1.

Category 1 means that they will need to assess the risk of legal
content or activity on their services with “a reasonably
foreseeable risk of causing significant physical or psychological
harm to adults”.

They will also be required to ensure users are able to easily
report harmful content or activity and will need to publish
transparency reports about the steps they are taking to tackle
online harms.

Dangote adbanner 728x90_2 (1)

Category 2 will be reserved for platforms hosting dating
services or pornography and private messaging apps, while financial
harms such as fraud and the sale of unsafe goods will be excluded
from this framework to avoid replication of existing
regulations.

(Sputnik/NAN)