Online Harms Regulation – Getting Closer?

The Government's much anticipated response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation has finally been released but those seeking clarity at this stage may be left scratching their heads. It appears to represent no more than an indication of the Government's direction of travel under considerable media pressure to ensure that "something must be done" writes BCL partner, Julian Hayes and solicitor, Greta Barkle.

In April 2019, plans were announced to establish a broad new statutory duty of care for social media companies and platform providers to tackle widespread concerns about a host of online issues, from terrorist and child sexual abuse content to cyber bullying and trolling. After receiving over 2,400 consultation responses, some of which pilloried the proposals as a threat to free speech, legislative momentum appeared to wane. With the election of Boris Johnson in December though, the issue was resurrected in the first Queen's Speech of the new administration.