Criminal Expert Tackles Most Searched Online Safety Bill Questions

Umar Zeb, Senior Partner at JD Spicer Zeb, answers some of the top online searches relating to the Online Safety Bill.

The Online Safety Bill is a new set of laws that intend to protect children and adults online. The bill imposes new legal requirements on providers of internet services to keep websites free of illegal and harmful material while empowering individuals and defending freedom of expression.

To ensure the public has a comprehensive understanding of the Bill as well as its significance, leading UK criminal law solicitors, JD Spicer Zeb, will be tackling some of the most searched questions relating to the Online Safety Bill below.

When Was the Online Safety Bill Introduced?

A greater need for regulating harmful content online was first brought to light in 2019 when Theresa May’s government put forward the Online Harms White Paper. Following this, the Online Safety Bill emerged as a proposed Act of Parliament that intends to protect adults and children online.

It was first published as a draft in May 2021, and was introduced to the House of Commons on 17 March 2022. Currently, the new laws are going through parliament and will be in place once they finish their passage.

What is the Online Safety Bill?

In recent years, there has been a growing public consensus towards greater online protection for both adults and kids. The death of teenager, Molly Russell, only amplified these public concerns on how easily accessible harmful and illegal content, such as suicide and self-harm online, was.

What will the Online Safety Bill Mean for Children and Young People?

• Illegal content will be removed or prevented from appearing in the first place.
• Children, parents, and carers will be provided with clear and attainable ways to report problems online if they are to arise.
• Age limits will be enforced and assured by age-checking measures.
• Children will be prevented from accessing age-inappropriate and harmful content.

What will the Online Safety Bill Mean for Adults?

The Bill will intend to protect adults in three different ways. This is known as a ‘triple shield’ approach:

• The removal of illegal content online.
• Empowering adult internet users with tools to remove content that is banned on their own terms and conditions.
• Using these tools to also tailor the type of content they want to see. This can help individuals avoid engaging in potentially harmful content. It will also ensure children will be automatically prevented from seeing this content, without having to manually change any settings beforehand.

What Types of Illegal and Harmful Content will be Addressed in the Online Safety Bill?

Illegal content

Some content that individuals find online is already illegal. The Bill intends to enforce legislation that will mean social media platforms will bare greater accountability for removing this illegal content so that children and adults do not encounter it.

Illegal content that online platforms will need to remove includes:

• Child sexual abuse
• Non-consensual pornography, such as revenge porn, deepfakes and down blousing
• Terrorism
• Fraud
• Controlling or coercive behaviour
• Sexual violence or exploitation
• Encouraging self-harm
• Hate crime and inciting violence
• Illegal immigration and people smuggling
• Encouraging or facilitating suicide
• Selling illegal weapons or drugs

Harmful content

Other content that could be considered harmful or age-inappropriate for younger viewers but is not illegal may also be included in the Bill. Online platforms will need to prevent children from accessing the following:

• Pornography
• Content that does not meet criminal standards but does incite or promote harm, such as eating disorders or suicide
• Online abuse, including harassment and cyberbullying

Who Currently Regulates Social Media in the UK?

UK law allows users to report illicit content to the police, however, there is currently no specific legislation covering social media regulation. The Online Safety Bill intends to appoint Ofcom as an internet watchdog, providing it with the ability to fine companies that do not protect users sufficiently and force these platforms to improve their practices. Sites that repeatedly fail to comply with Ofcom could face prison sentences of up to two years.

Is Social Media Abuse a Crime?

Sharing threatening, offensive, or abusive messages online can constitute an offence. While there is no current legislation that covers social media regulation, there are a number of laws, such as the Malicious Communications Act of 1988 and the Communications Act of 2003, which do cover the breadth of indecent and harmful content online.

However, the Online Safety Bill aims to clamp down on hate crimes and other harmful content online through stronger regulation on social media platforms, as well as introducing new priority offences, such as child sexual abuse and revenge porn.

Why is the Online Safety Bill Controversial?

Arguably, one of the most divisive areas concerning the Bill was the “legal but harmful” duties clause. This clause, which was initially dropped, would see tech companies taking greater accountability for harmful content, including potential jail time. However, privacy advocates argued that this clause raised concerns over freedom of expression and a lack of consensus over what constitutes as ‘harm’ online.

However, new research commissioned by the NSPCC suggests there is a strong desire for social media bosses to be held legally responsible if children are hurt by the content, with four in five adults in favour of this.

Despite the drop in clause, the Bill reached a milestone legislative moment on Tuesday 17 January, with the government pulling a major U-turn just hours before the Parliamentary hearing. Previously, the government had opposed criminal liability for site bosses who fail to protect children from damaging content online. However, they have since backed the amendment to enforce stricter financial penalties and criminal liability.

What Will the Online Safety Bill Law Actually Cover?

While online platforms will still need to protect individuals and remove content that is illegal or breach their own terms of service, the Bill will no longer aim to define specific types of legal and harmful content that social media companies would have originally needed to address.

The Bill will also provide adults with tools that allow them to exercise more control over the content they see and engage with.

What Companies will be Affected by the Online Safety Bill?

The Online Safety Bill is currently estimated to affect 25,000 companies in the UK.

The way these sites will be treated under the Bill will partly depend on their size, focusing on services where the risk of harm is the highest. In theory, this would mean that low-risk companies would not have to face any unnecessary burdens.

However, there are concerns about how the Bill will affect much smaller services where someone may just host an online game or social media site for fun. In addition to this, there are several popular volunteer-run sites, such as Wikipedia, where their “freedom of expression” could become limited due to the nature of the Bill.

As a result, a number of campaigners are calling for the government to adopt a wider consideration for how the Bill could potentially burden not-for-profit and hobbyist sites. Some individuals are even calling for the Bill’s scope to become more limited to the major commercial providers, such as Facebook and Pinterest, with less focus on smaller services.

Below are some examples of online providers that will be affected by the Bill:

• Social media platforms
• Forums and messaging apps
• Pornography sites
• Search engines
• Online games
• Cloud storage

What are the Changes to Pornography?

Under the Online Safety Bill, providers that include pornographic content within their services will have a legal duty of care. This is intended to prevent children from accessing harmful content.

As the Bill stands, if adult sites fail to act, Ofcom will be able to fine companies up to 10% of their annual worldwide turnover and can block them from being accessible in the UK. In addition to this, bosses of sites could see themselves being held criminally liable if they fail to cooperate with Ofcom.

Age-verification technologies

To ensure users are 18 years old and over, the Bill is set to mandate age verification checks for adult content online. This could see adult sites using AI software to estimate your age based on a selfie or voice recording.

OnlyFans, which is currently the UK’s biggest site hosting adult content, has recently adopted age verification for all new UK subscribers.

However, a number of campaigners have shared their concerns that strict age verification measures could make individuals' data more susceptible to a breach, as well as posing privacy risks.

Exempt Services from the Online Safety Bill

The following services are exempt from the Online Safety Bill:

• Email, SMS and MMS services.
• One-to-one aural communication: a service designed specifically for users to communicate via real-time speech or other sounds. If other content, such as images or written messages, are included, the exemption does not apply.
• Internal business services: this means that most internal messages and search engines for employees of the provider are exempt.
• Limited functionality services: these are services where users are only able to communicate by posting comments or reviews on content published by the provider itself. For instance, applying a like or dislike or rating provider content.
• Services provided by public bodies: this could include user-to-user services or search services provided by the Houses of Parliament or the Senedd Cymru.

When Will the Online Safety Bill Become Law?

In the last year, there have been significant delays to the Bill. These pushbacks have been attributed to the political turmoil of having three prime ministers and new legislation towards strike action, as well as the Bill itself dividing public opinion.

Currently, the draft Bill is now in the “report stage” of the UK’s legislative process, approaching a move from the lower chamber, the House of Commons, to the Lords. 

Umar Zeb, Senior Partner at JD Spicer Zeb, said of the new law:

“The Online Safety Bill is a radical new appeal to tackling illegal and legal, but harmful, content online. For the first time ever, social media platforms and search engines will have a legal duty of care to regulate content and protect users.

“Due to the wide reach of the Bill, alongside the very nature of being online, it is likely to encounter some challenges. Arguably one of the most highly contested issues concerning the Bill was finding a balance between protecting individuals online from harm while simultaneously not intercepting their privacy and respecting their freedom of expression.”

What Security Measures Can I Take to Stay Safe Online?

When using the internet and social media platforms, you’re constantly exchanging data and making your personal information accessible for others to see. It is therefore important to make sure your privacy and devices are as secure as possible. Below are some tips for staying safe online:

• Keep personal information private and limited: The more information you share online, the more vulnerable you are to cyberattacks. It is, therefore, important to keep personal information as private as possible.
• Think before you post: Before posting on social media, you should ask yourself some of the following questions: “Is this private?”, “Am I being kind?”, “Do I have permission to post this?” “Is this going to affect my presence or reputation?” and “Would I say this in person?”.
• Think about who you’re talking to: There are plenty of risks associated with talking to people you don’t know. To stay safe, you should not give away any personal information or trust people you’re not familiar with.
• Turn on 2-step verification: Turning on 2-step verification adds extra protection to your accounts.
• Create strong passwords and change them on a regular basis: Consistently changing your password will reduce the risk of cybercriminals trying to access your accounts.
• Install the latest updates and software: Updates can contain vital security modifications to help protect your devices and data from cybercriminals.
• Back up your data: In the event of a cyberattack, backing up your data is the single most important action you can take to save important files and documents.

Need Legal Help?

If you have been involved in the distribution of illegal or harmful content online and are seeking defence, solicitors at JD Spicer Zeb can offer some of the best legal guidance and expertise.

With years of experience in handling these offences, they can ensure you get the specialist support and advice you need. For more information, or to make an enquiry, contact them by calling 0207 624 7771 or emailing solicitors@jdspicer.co.uk.