THINK AGAIN ... THIS RISKS CENSORSHIP
Almost every sensible and decent person will agree that web giants such as Facebook, Google and twitter have acted disgracefully in hosting offensive and sometimes potentially harmful material. the mail has been in the forefront of those demanding they put their house in order.
the recent case of molly Russell perhaps concentrated minds as never before. the 14-year- old girl took her own life after viewing so- called ‘suicide porn’ on Instagram, a social networking service belonging to Facebook.
Web platforms have rightly been excoriated for carrying material that could aid terrorists in their dreadful acts, vile pornography and all manner of disgusting things posted online by paedophiles.
so there’s absolutely no doubt there is a huge social problem which the Government has a duty to address with the utmost urgency. It is most unfortunate that it should be doing so in a way that appears to threaten freedom of speech.
the White Paper on online Harms published today is well intended. But it has rightly been characterised by John Whittingdale, a former Conservative Culture secretary, as a piece of prospective legislation that might more naturally emanate from autocratic regimes such as China, Russia and North Korea.
Although the Government insists the
Press has nothing to fear from these proposed measures, a new regulator dubbed of web would have the power to censor genuine news websites and responsible online forums such as tripAdvisor and mumsnet.
In particular, the Home secretary of the day would be allowed to write the rules on terror and child exploitation content, and of web could block access to websites which break the rules. Alleged transgressors could also face fines running into millions of pounds.
looking at the present agreeable Home secretary, sajid Javid, there’s no reason to suppose that such a fundamentally liberalminded person would abuse these stupendous new powers.
But what would happen if someone less enlightened were in his position? Is it fantastical to imagine a malign government – dare one say it, a Corbynista one, perhaps in its second baleful term of office – appropriating these instruments of censorship for political reasons?
one can see that ministers have understandably been distracted by all the ructions of Brexit, but they really should focus on the possible implications of this incendiary White Paper, and think again.
No other democratic government in the Western world has contemplated such draconian measures.
the best way to deal with over-mighty and irresponsible web giants is to make them responsible under the existing criminal law for disseminating harmful or dangerous material. It is emphatically not to threaten all our freedoms.