Government reveals landmark internet laws to curb hate and harmful content | Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard wiltsglosstandard.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wiltsglosstandard.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Ofcom will have the power to fine social media firms and block access to sites under new “landmark” internet laws aimed at tackling abusive and harmful content online.
The Government published the draft Online Safety Bill, which it says will help keep children safe online and combat racism and other abuse.
The Bill will require social media and other platforms to remove and limit harmful content, with large fines for failing to protect users.
The Government has also included a deferred power making senior managers at firms criminally liable for failing to follow a new duty of care, which could be introduced at a later date, while provisions to tackle online scams and protect freedom of expression have also been included.
May 7, 2021 @ 11:17 pm By Omar Faridi
UK Finance (a trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector that represents around 300 firms in the UK providing credit, banking, markets and payment-related services),
Which? (an organization that reviews products and services, so that you “make the best purchase decisions” for your requirements) and
City of London Police are among several other organizations that have signed a letter asking the UK government to add online or Internet scams to its latest “Online Safety” bill.
The new “Online Safety” bill will require companies – through the threat of huge fines – to enhance Internet safety in key areas like terrorist content, child sex abuse, hate crimes, cyber-bullying and the circulation of fake or misleading news updates.
Government urged to use Online Safety Bill to protect consumers from scams May 7, 2021, 12:05 am
A coalition of groups has urged the Government to use new laws to ensure online platforms have a legal responsibility to protect users from an ‘avalanche’ of scams (PA)
The UK must use new laws to ensure online platforms have a legal responsibility to protect users from an “avalanche” of scams, a coalition of groups has warned the Government.
The 17 consumer and business groups and authorities have urged the Government to include scams in its proposed Online Safety Bill – which could be announced in next week’s Queen’s Speech – to protect consumers from their “devastating financial and emotional harm”.
Submitting.
“Yet platforms have very little legal responsibility for protecting their users, despite often being the best placed to tackle harmful content.”
Scams have escalated in the past 12 months, with Action Fraud figures suggesting that £1.7 billion was reportedly lost to them over the period.
Action Fraud estimates that, in the year to June 2020, 85% of all fraud was cyber-enabled.
But the coalition said the actual financial losses are likely to be much higher and do not capture the emotional impact on victims.
The letter read: “Across industry, regulators and consumer groups, there is now wide-ranging consensus on the urgent need for action to tackle scams and the critical role that online platforms must take in protecting users from the harm caused by fake and fraudulent content.