New laws proposed to tackle social media companies streaming child abuse, extremism, terrorist attacks and cyberbullying have been welcomed by senior police and children’s charities.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/08/social-media-firms-to-be-penalised-for-not-taking-down-child-abuse
Launched on Monday, the Online Harms white paper outlines what the government says are tough new laws for internet companies and the ability to enforce them.
The white paper, which was revealed in the Guardian last week, will legislate for a new statutory duty of care by social media firms and the appointment of an independent regulator, which is likely to be funded through a levy on the companies.
The “harms” that companies could be penalised for include failure to act to take down child abuse, terrorist acts and revenge pornography, as well as behaviours such as cyberbullying, spreading disinformation and encouraging self-harm. Senior social media executives could be held personally liable for failure to remove such content from their platforms.
2019-04-09