Minister defends U-turn over removing harmful online content - The Guardian

The UK civilization secretary, Michelle Donelan, has defended removing a proviso successful the online information measure to modulate “legal but harmful” online material, aft the begetter of teen Molly Russell said it was a “watering down” of the bill.

Ministers person scrapped the proviso aft MPs raised escaped code concerns. It would person included violative contented that does not represent a transgression offence, but alternatively Donelan said platforms would beryllium required to enforce their presumption and conditions.

If those presumption explicitly prohibit contented that falls beneath the threshold of criminality – specified arsenic immoderate forms of maltreatment – Ofcom volition past person the powerfulness to guarantee they constabulary them adequately.

The bill, which returns to parliament connected 5 December aft being paused successful July, besides contains caller provisions connected protecting children. Overall, the authorities imposes a work of attraction connected tech firms to shield children from harmful content.

Other changes to the measure see criminalising encouragement of committing self-harm, a alteration that was introduced aft the inquest into the decease of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who died aft viewing extended amounts of harmful worldly connected Instagram and Pinterest successful 2017. It volition besides criminalise nonconsensual “deepfake” pornography and “downblousing”.

Molly’s father, Ian, told Radio 4’s Today programme connected Tuesday that it was incorrect to region a work connected societal media companies to curb ineligible but harmful content.

“I don’t deliberation you tin spot the removal of a full clause arsenic thing different than watering down,” helium said.

Donelan said she would support the removal of the clause, which she said was preventing the measure from progressing.

“It had very, precise concerning impact, potentially, connected escaped speech,” she told Sky News. “There were unintended consequences associated with it. It was truly the anchor that was preventing this measure from getting disconnected the ground.

“It was a instauration of a quasi-legal class betwixt amerciable and legal. That’s not what a authorities should beryllium doing. It’s confusing. It would make a antithetic benignant of acceptable of rules online to offline successful the ineligible sphere.”

But Donelan said it would not person consequences for the benignant of worldly children would spot online. “The full constituent astir this measure fundamentally is astir protecting children,” she told the Today programme.

“That’s wherefore the archetypal happening that I did erstwhile I became caput of authorities is defy what everybody said was intolerable and really fortify this measure for children. We’re going further erstwhile it comes to children. I besides said, look, if we each hold things should beryllium illegal, let’s let’s marque them illegal.

“And present successful this bill, the promotion of self-harm is illegal, the promotion of intimate images including deepfakes are illegal. But I did besides recognise, arsenic did a fig of my colleagues, that determination is simply a heavy interest astir state of code connected the ineligible but harmful aspect.

“It was the authorities saying yes, this is legal. You tin accidental it to 1 another, but you can’t benignant it online … That is simply a shocking spot for america to extremity up.”

She said the contented that Russell had viewed would nary longer beryllium legal. “The contented that Molly Russell saw volition not beryllium allowed arsenic a effect of this bill. And determination volition nary longer beryllium cases similar that coming guardant due to the fact that we’re preventing that from happening,” she said. “And I privation to beryllium truly wide connected that. Because that is fundamentally what this measure is about.”