Social media firms to fund new regulator

Charles Hymas

Steven Swinford

SOCIAL media firms face a multi-million pound levy to fund a regulator with powers to fine them and prosecute their bosses if they fail to take down harmful content, according to plans for new duty of care laws.

The Government will unveil its proposals for a statutory duty on the tech giants on Monday, enforced by a regulator, initially likely to be the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom. The Daily Telegraph has campaigned for a legally binding framework since last summer.

As revealed last month by this newspaper, companies that commit the most serious breaches of the duty of care, such as allowing terrorists or paedophiles to use their services, will be hit with unprecedented punishments.

This will extend from multi-million pound fines to potential criminal prosecutions of named directors held liable for harmful content on their platforms. It could even involve blocking errant overseas tech giants from access to UK users.

Tech firms will be required to fund the regulator in the medium term with the prospect of a levy as an option to put it on a sustainable footing. The regulator will draw up codes of practice on how social media websites should protect users from online harms.

The White Paper sets out a detailed list of “harms” against which the firms will have to take action – from terrorism and child abuse to cyber bullying, self-harm and disinformation.

Ministers will have extra powers to direct the regulator on illegal activities such as terrorism or child sexual exploitation.

Social media firms will be required to publish annual reports disclosing the prevalence of harmful content on their sites and steps they have taken to combat it. They will have to set up “easy-to-access” complaints procedures, and respond to them within set time frames. Tech firms of all sizes will be regulated.