Boris Johnson’s government confirmed it will require tech companies to enact a duty of care for UK users, but that it will not penalise them for failing to address individual instances of harmful content.
In the Queen’s Speech on Monday, it said the Online Harms White Paper, which seeks to address the problem of harmful content on the internet, will be enacted by ensuring companies, like Facebook or Twitter, have “systems in place”.
It says: “We are seeking to do this by ensuring that companies have the right processes and systems in place to fulfil their obligations, rather than penalising them for individual instances of unacceptable content.”
It also reiterated that the government did not want to place “undue burdens” on businesses in introducing the new bill.
This seems to echo the strong stance of former home secretary, now chancellor, Sajid Javid who, at the launch of the paper in April, said new legislation would give powers to punish those who did not comply.
Javid said tech companies could face fines, penalties or even be blocked from the UK if they failed to address illegal or harmful content on their platforms. He also placed a legal duty of care upon technology CEOs like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and said they would have the power to bring criminal charges against individual senior staff members and management.
On Monday, the Queen’s Speech indicated that in practice, this approach would place the onus on tech companies to come up with solutions.
The White Paper is still to go ahead (the next steps are the publication of draft legislation for pre-legislative scrutiny) and will be overseen by an independent regulator, such as Ofcom – but as yet to be named.
The Queen’s Speech said the government will also be publishing work on tackling terrorism and child abuse online, and publishing a media literacy strategy for users to stay safe online.
A framework will also be established to help start-ups and small businesses with safety when growing their services on the internet.
Last week the NSPCC said enacting a statutory duty of care to protect children from online harms must be Boris Johnson’s “utmost priority”.
In April both Jeremy Wright, former secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, and Javid, said users had trusted tech giants with “their children” but the companies failed to “repay that trust”.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May also said the proposals were a sign the age of self-regulation for internet companies was over.
May said: “Online companies must start taking responsibility for their platforms, and help restore public trust in this technology.”
HuffPost UK has contacted the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport for a comment.
• This article was amended on 14 October. It previously stated the government had reversed its plans to penalise tech companies for unacceptable content.