Labour will accuse the Government of putting the public at risk
as they refuse to include online fraud and scams part of the
Online Safety Bill.
This comes despite calls from victims, campaigner and the City of
London Police.
Last year £2.3bn was lost to online fraud and scams hitting
hundreds of thousands of families with 413,553 instances
reported. And the problem has soared during lockdown.
Online fraud rose by up to 70 per cent during the pandemic as
families turned to online shopping and banking making it the most
common crime.
Fraudsters’ most common tactic was setting up fake websites,
mobile apps or social media ads, either mimicking trusted
retailers with familiar logos and slogans, or faux e-stores which
then failed to deliver ordered goods.
As well as the financial hardship, victims have been left
devastated by the experience suffering from stress and other
mental health problems. While many more people curtail their use
of online shopping and banking because of their fear of being
scammed.
Shadow Digital, Culture and Media Secretary will tell Labour conference on Sunday [26th
September]:
“We have an epidemic of online scams. But the Government refuses
to include protection for people in this Bill.
“Campaigner has called for
it, victims have called for it, the City of London Police have
called for it, but the Conservatives say no – refusing the
opportunity to protect the public and instead standing up for
scammers.
“Well Labour will do what the Tory Government won’t.”
“Labour will build a broad coalition in Parliament for better
legislation that protects people against the scammers.
“That puts a proper, effective legal duty of care on the social
media companies about what they host on their platforms. And
unlike the Government, we will fight for criminal penalties for
senior tech executives who repeatedly breach the new law.”
She will add: “We’ve got a weak and watered down Online Safety
Bill four years after the Conservatives promised legislation that
doesn’t even fulfil the basic duty of government – to keep its
citizens safe.
“Big social media companies have been left unchecked and
unregulated, whilst their platforms host increasing levels of
child abuse, self-harm and suicide content, dangerous anti-vax
misinformation, discrimination, hate speech and more. And those
companies make a lot of money out of it.
“The Tories’ Bill legislates for the companies to self-regulate.
To mark their own homework. And the good, responsible businesses
in the tech sector acknowledge we need clear regulation. We will
continue to work with them to make our lives safer online.
Especially for children.”
