Upcoming planned legislation to regulate online spaces is returning, the British government confirmed. On Thursday, Commons leader and Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt outlined the forthcoming parliamentary business in the House of Commons, which included a date for the Online Safety Bill. Its remaining stages are due to be provisionally debated on Dec. 5. The bill…

A coroner has issued recommendations including separate social media platforms for adults and children, following an inquest into the death of a London schoolgirl. Molly Russell, a 14-year-old girl from Harrow, northwest London, who her father said showed no obvious signs of mental illness, took her own life on Nov. 21, 2017. She had viewed…

Newly appointed Prime Minister Liz Truss has confirmed that planned legislation to regulate online spaces will return, even as she signaled that it could be watered down in response to concerns about regulatory overreach and restrictions on free speech. During her first session of Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons on Sept. 7,…

Newly appointed Prime Minister Liz Truss has confirmed that planned legislation to regulate online spaces will return, though signaled that it could be watered down in response to concerns about regulatory overreach and restrictions on free speech. During her first session of Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Truss announced the…

A survey by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, has found almost six out of 10 experts in the field believe the British government’s Online Safety Bill will have a detrimental impact on freedom of speech. Last month, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned, the government put the legislation on hold until his successor will be…

New data shows a significant increase in the number of British primary school children generating their own sexual abuse imagery since lockdowns. Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which published the data, is a UK-based organisation with the goal of finding and removing images and video online child abuse. IWF is an independent charity funded by members…

The government has announced that the new Online Safety Bill has been put on hold until a new prime minister is in place in the autumn, a move which has won praise from free speech supporters. The planned legislation on online spaces has been increasingly criticised by top Tories for handing “unprecedented censorship powers” to…

Online platforms could be forced to maintain a score of how truthful a person is, under new legislation proposed by MP John Penrose. Penrose said that the purpose is to reduce the risk of harm to users of regulated services caused by “disinformation or misinformation.” The person’s speech would then be “displayed in a way which…

A plan to thwart Twitter and Facebook from indiscriminately removing hiding articles when shared on social media platforms without proper recourse has been added to the Online Safety Bill, the government has announced. On Thursday, the government said the move would offer an extra layer of protection for online journalism. Under the amendment, the biggest…

Social media platforms will have to proactively look for and remove “disinformation” from foreign state actors under a proposed amendment to upcoming online safety laws. Foreign Interference will also be made a designated priority offence. In a statement on Tuesday, the government wrote that it will table an amendment to link the National Security Bill…