UK waters down internet rules plan after free speech outcry
LONDON (AP) — The British government has abandoned a plan to force tech firms to remove internet content that is harmful but legal, after the proposal drew strong criticism from lawmakers and civil liberties groups.
The U.K. on Tuesday defended its decision to water down the Online Safety Bill, an ambitious but controversial attempt to crack down on online racism, sexual abuse, bullying, fraud and other harmful material.
Similar efforts are underway in the European Union and the United States, but the U.K.’s was one of the most sweeping. In its original form, the bill gave regulators wide-ranging powers to sanction digital and social media companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
Critics had expressed concern that a requirement for the biggest platforms to remove “legal but harmful” content could lead to censorship and undermine free speech.
The Conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who took office last month, has now dropped that part of the bill, saying it could “over-criminalize” online content. The government hopes the change will be enough to get the bill through Parliament, where it has languished for 18 months, by mid-2023.
Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan said the change removed the risk that “tech firms or future governments could use the laws as a license to censor legitimate views.”
“It was a creation of a quasi-legal category between illegal and legal,” she told Sky News. “That’s not what a government should be doing. It’s confusing. It would create a different kind of set of rules online to offline in the legal sphere.”
Instead, the bill says companies must set out clear terms of service, and stick to them. Companies will be free to allow adults to post and see offensive or harmful material, as long as it is not illegal....
