Labour has today called on the Government to toughen up the
criminal sanctions for executives of big tech firms in the Online
Safety Bill.
2021 was the worst year on record for child sexual abuse, with
lockdown meaning children spent more time indoors and online.
Without stronger criminal sanctions for top bosses, there is a
real risk that these abuses will continue even after the Online
Safety Bill is in place.
Labour’s Shadow Culture Secretary, Lucy Powell, has described the
relationship between the regulator Ofcom and the biggest global
tech firms, like Google, Facebook and twitter, as like “David and
Goliath”, and urged the Government to ensure Ofcom has the full
range of tools in its tool-belt to ensure companies are
fulfilling their duties on online safety.
As it stands, senior managers can only be held criminally liable
for technical offences, like failing to supply information to the
regulator, and even then the measures might not come in until two
years after the Bill is in place.
Labour is today calling on the Government to require that top
bosses at social media companies be criminally liable for
systematic and repeated failures to ensure online safety as soon
as the Bill comes into force.
Labour’s call is in line with the cross-party Joint Committee,
who scrutinised the Online Safety Bill and found that “a lack of
regulation online has left too many people vulnerable to abuse,
fraud, violence and in some cases even loss of life.”
The DCMS Select Committee also criticised the Online Safety Bill
for being neither clear nor robust enough to ensure that some of
the most pernicious forms of child sexual abuse do not evade
detection.
The Government has been promising legislation on online safety
for years. The Prime Minister personally promised that the Bill
would have second reading before the end of 2021, and that the
updated Bill would include “criminal sanctions with
tough sentences for those who are responsible for allowing this
foul content to permeate the internet” but there is so far no
sign of even the text of the updated Bill, let alone a date for
second reading.
, Labour’s Shadow Culture
Secretary, said:
“Security and safety online should be a top priority for the
Government, but the Tories have spent years dragging their feet,
allowing dangerous and illegal content proliferating online to go
un-checked.
“The Online Safety Bill is too weak to make big tech firms sit up
and take notice, and ensure that hate, crime and child abuse are
stamped out in the online world.
“The regulator Ofcom will be taking on some of the biggest tech
firms in the world. It’s a David and Goliath situation, and Ofcom
must have access to the full range of tools in its belt,
including making top bosses criminally liable for persistently
failing to tackle online harms.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. 2021 was worst year on record for online child
sexual abuse, says IWFhttps://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jan/13/2021-was-worst-year-on-record-for-online-child-sex-abuse-says-iwf
2. the Joint Committee called for tougher criminal
sanctions in the Online Safety Bill:https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/534/draft-online-safety-bill-joint-committee/
3. The DCMS committee found that the Online Safety
Bill was neither clear nor robust enough tackle illegal and
harmful content online:https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1432/online-safety-and-online-harms/news/160439/illegal-and-harmful-content-could-evade-new-online-safety-law-warn-mps/
4. promised the Online Safety
Bill by the end of 2021, but it has not materialised: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2021-10-20/debates/C7F11738-673D-4738-874E-0718BD4AF330/Engagements?highlight=criminal%20sanctions#contribution-884A3E28-DAB3-4726-A239-8ECA1B9D0BD9
