Give regulator power to turn off apps, says ex-minister

THE Duty of Care regulator should have powers to switch off Whatsapp, a former culture secretary has said as he stepped up action to ensure the Government passes online safety laws. Jeremy

Wright, who drew up the Government’s White Paper proposing strict sanctions on tech platforms that fail to protect users, said the new regulator would need the ability to shut down major apps in order for Silicon Valley titans to take notice.

In his first major interview since leaving office last July, Mr Wright also warned that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, and others who had created companies in their bedrooms as teenagers “haven’t quite got to grips” with the damage their platforms can have on real lives.

His comments came as he launched an all-party parliamentary group to scrutinise the Government’s work delivering on its promise to impose a statutory duty of care on tech companies, a measure The Daily Telegraph has backed since 2018.

Mr Wright said that he felt the new regulator, which ministers have said will most likely be Ofcom, would need to be armed with more than just the ability to levy fines if it wished to rein in some of the richest companies on the planet.

“There needs to be a lot more clubs in the bag for the regulator than just fines,” he said.

“I do think we need to consider criminal liability for individual directors where it can be demonstrated.”

He also said the regulator should have powers to bar an app from the UK, in cases where firms “repeatedly and egregiously” refuse to comply with duty of care laws. “I do accept the chances of Whatsapp being turned off are remote,” added Mr Wright.

“Although frankly, there may be circumstances where that may be the right thing to do and we shouldn’t take it off the table.”

Mr Wright is founding the scrutiny group alongside cross-bench peer and children’s digital rights campaigner Baroness Beeban Kidron.

It comes more than a year since the Government published a White Paper outlining how social media giants should have a legal duty to protect users from harm.

However, ministers have only committed to bringing in the legislation within the current parliamentary session, meaning a new regulator may not be up and running until 2024.

Mr Wright said getting the new regulator set up was a matter of urgency as tech giants were “absolutely” not meeting their duty of care to users at the moment.