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Labour hits out at over U-turn on the Online
Safety Bill in less than 24 hours
On Wednesday under pressure from , the Prime Minister promised
to bring the second reading of the Online Safety Bill to the
House of Commons before Christmas after more than three
years of delay.
But today (Thursday 21st October) refused to say when the
Bill would come before MPs in response to business
questions.
Instead of committing to the timetable promised by , Rees-Mogg told MPs: “The
committee will come up with its wise views before Christmas, and
then we will be able to look at that.”
The draft Bill is currently being considered by a joint committee
of the House of Commons and Lords.
Yesterday the Prime Minister finally conceded that his
watered-down Online Safety Bill needed criminal
sanctions. told Prime Minister’s
Questions: “Yes, of course we will have criminal sanctions with
tough sentences for those who are responsible for allowing this
foul content to permeate the internet.”
Labour is demanding a tough duty of care online for harmful as
well as illegal content online – as well as pushing for criminal
sanctions for senior tech executives for repeated breaches of
that duty of care.
Evidence from independent watchdogs and leaked internal reports
from tech giants suggest that social media companies are
unwilling to solve the problem themselves.
Labour believes it is only by making senior social media
executives personally liable for failures to prevent dangerous
content, including that which glorifies violence and racist or
misogynist hatred, from spreading unchecked that the social media
companies will begin to take it seriously.
, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport, said: "It seems that our
relief that had finally understood the
urgency of the Online Safety Bill yesterday was premature.
"Not only have the Conservatives U-turned on their commitment to
bring the second reading of the Bill to parliament before
Christmas, but this also raises questions over whether the Prime
Minister's promise to bring in criminal sanctions will also be
quietly shelved.
"The Online Safety Bill is years overdue. Labour has a plan to
give it teeth so that social media companies can finally be held
to account. needs to stick to his promise
and the government must stop online spaces from being safe spaces
for terrorists. "
Ends
Notes to Editors
· promised to introduce the
second reading of the Bill before Christmas and to introduce
criminal sanctions in Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday
20th October 2021 - https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-10-20/debates/C7F11738-673D-4738-874E-0718BD4AF330/Engagements
