Social media bosses face tough criminal sanctions for hosting extremist content
SOCIAL media bosses could face ‘criminal sanctions with tough sentences’ if they allow extremist content to appear on their platforms, Boris Johnson said yesterday.
He told MPs that the forthcoming Online Safety Bill would tackle web giants if they allow ‘foul content’ to circulate.
And he promised the long-awaited legislation would make quick progress in the Commons, with the bill receiving its second reading before Christmas. But a Whitehall source later said the second reading might not take place until early next year.
Published in May, the draft Bill gives regulator Ofcom the power to impose multibillionpound fines on technology giants that fail to show a duty of care to users.
But it stops short of bringing criminal sanctions against bosses. Instead, a new criminal offence for managers has been included as a deferred power that can be introduced if Ofcom finds that firms are failing to keep to their new responsibilities. Some campaigners have raised fears that the rules risk stifling the free press, ‘silencing marginalised voices’ and introducing ‘state-backed censorship’.
The Prime Minister was asked by Sir Keir Starmer to use the ‘inescapable desire’ of MPs in the aftermath of the killing of Conservative Sir David Amess to ‘clamp down on the extremism, the hate and the abuse that festers online’.
Speaking in the Commons, the Labour leader said ‘arrogant’ social media firms should be made to take responsibility.
‘It’s three years since the Government promised an Online Safety Bill but it’s not yet before the House,’ he said. ‘Meanwhile, the damage caused by harmful content online is worse than ever. Dangerous algorithms on Facebook and Instagram, and Hope Not Hate have shown me an example of violent Islamism and far-Right propaganda on TikTok.’
Julian Knight, chairman of the Commons culture committee, said: ‘We find ourselves in an unworkable situation where, at the whim of the Prime Minister at the despatch box, the process of scrutiny of this important piece of legislation to tackle online harms will be undermined. We need urgent clarity.’
Owen Meredith of the News Media Association said last night: ‘This is vitally important legislation and there is an understandable desire for speed.
However, we are very concerned this may mean complex legislation with far-reaching consequences for freedom of speech and the public’s right to know does not get the proper parliamentary scrutiny it needs.’