Deloitte Internet Regulation Updater

On 24 November 2022 Leader of the Commons, Penny Mordaunt MP, confirmed that the Online Safety Bill will return to the House of Commons on Monday 5 December 2022.

There have been a number of amendments tabled for discussion when the Bill returns, key updates/examples are:

• Today (29 Nov) the Culture Secretary confirmed in interviews that “legal but harmful” content obligations for adults have been removed. Protections for adults remain in the Bill, however, in the form of (i) requirements to consistently enforce community standards/terms of use (ii) giving filter options, to empower users to control the content they do not wish to see and (iii) obligations to remove illegal content. The Culture Secretary described this as a ‘triple shield’ for online protection while also protecting individual rights to freedom of speech.
• In terms of where the Bill has been strengthened, the Culture Secretary explained that there were heightened protections for children.
• A new communications offence is proposed, making it a criminal offence to encourage or assist self-harm. Practically this will require Internet Companies to remove content that deliberately encourages an individual to physically injury themselves.
• In addition there is a new proposed offence for any person who shares or threatens to share deepfake pornography or down-blousing images.

We will be keeping a keen eye out when the Bill returns to Parliament next week and will provide an update once more is known and whether an amended Bill is published.

If you would like to speak to the Deloitte team supporting clients on complying with fast-paced global internet regulation, please contact:

Joey Conway, Internet Regulation Partner, Legal

Nick Seeber, Internet Regulation Lead Partner

Jessica Withey, Internet Regulation Director, Legal

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