Online Safety Bill Receives Royal Assent, Despite Controversy
The long-debated and controversial Online Safety Bill has finally received Royal Assent on October 26, 2023, marking the official status of becoming law. This 300-page-long bill aims to make the UK the safest place to be online, especially for children, by placing more responsibility on tech firms for the content shared on their platforms. However, tech firms argue that it actually poses a threat to the internet as we know it.
While hailed as a “game-changing piece of legislation” by Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan, the Act has faced criticism from various parties throughout its lengthy legal journey. From VPN services and messaging platforms to politicians, civil societies, industry experts, and academics, commentators fear that its provisions may increase government surveillance, censorship, and limit privacy.
So, what does the Online Safety Bill entail? In an effort to clean up the internet and protect children from harmful material, the bill introduces new powers and obligations for social media platforms and digital services. It also recognizes new offenses, including cyber-flashing and the sharing of “deepfake” pornography.
Under the bill, digital platforms have a “duty of care” to protect children and prevent them from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content. This includes enforcing age limits and providing users with the option to filter out such content. Moreover, parents will have the right to obtain information about their children from tech firms, and platforms must be transparent about the risks associated with their services.
Tech firms are also held accountable for removing illegal content from their platforms, such as child sexual abuse, extreme sexual violence, coercive behavior, illegal immigration, self-harm, animal cruelty, and terrorism. Failure to comply with these requirements can result in fines up to £18 million or 10% of their global annual revenue, whichever is larger. In extreme cases, company owners may even face imprisonment.
Despite the lofty aim of the bill, tech experts are concerned that it may actually undermine online safety. The focus on encryption is a particularly contentious issue. While the bill grants the government the power to access, collect, and read conversations to aid the hunt for illegal materials, experts argue that this compromises privacy and sets a dangerous precedent. Even more concerning, the technology required for this “spy clause” is not currently available. As a result, its deployment has been postponed until it is “technically feasible.”
Tech companies, including Proton, the developer of security software such as VPN and secure email services, have expressed staunch opposition to compromising encryption. Matthew Hodgson of Element, a UK-based end-to-end encrypted messaging platform, revealed that customers are now requesting contractual clauses to ensure their privacy is protected. Messaging platforms like Signal and WhatsApp have also threatened to withdraw from the UK market if forced to spy on user conversations.
It remains to be seen how this conflict between online safety and encryption will be resolved. Tech experts hope that the UK regulator will consider the wider implications and practicalities of the Online Safety Bill during the implementation process. Andy Yen, CEO of Proton, emphasized the need for the government to acknowledge the technical infeasibility of their proposals.
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