The long-awaited Online Safety Bill, which will see social media platforms face tougher standards, has passed its final Parliamentary debate and is set to become law.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said the milestone means the government “is within touching distance of delivering the most powerful child protection laws in a generation”, while ensuring that adults are better empowered to take control of their online activities and protected from illegal activities.
Under the new rules, social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Tik Tok, could face significant fines reaching billions of pounds if they do not act rapidly to prevent and remove illegal content and stop children viewing materials that could be harmful to them.
Social media platforms will be expected to enforce age limits and age-checking measures, prevent children from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content, publish risk assessments outlining the risks and dangers posed to children and provide parents and children with clear and accessible ways to report problems online when they do arise.
The Bill will also offer adults greater control over their online activities, including new laws to decisively tackle online fraud. Under the Bill, the biggest social media platforms will have to stop users being exposed to dangerous fraudulent adverts by blocking or removing scams or risk hefty fines from Ofcom.
Technology secretary Michelle Donelan called the legislation “game changing” and said it marks an “enormous step” forward in the UK’s mission to become the safest place in the world to be online.
“I am immensely proud of what we have achieved with this bill. Our common-sense approach will deliver a better future for British people, by making sure that what is illegal offline is illegal online. It puts protecting children first, enabling us to catch keyboard criminals and crack down on the heinous crimes they seek to commit,” said Donelan.
The Bill was met with approval by trade association PIMFA, which said fraud is now the most widely reported crime in the UK.
David Ostojitsch, director of government relations and policy at PIMFA said: “PIMFA is pleased to have been part of a campaign group that included consumer groups like Which? and the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, trade associations such as UK Finance, the Association of British Insurers and the Investment Association and other stakeholders including the City of London Corporation, City of London Police and the Carnegie Institute UK.
“That such organisations came together to campaign for fraud to be included as a priority harm within the Bill is a measure of how passionate we all are about the need to protect the public from such a menace. Fraud is the most widely reported crime in the UK, and most of it now occurs online.
“But PIMFA will continue campaigning to ensure the public is properly protected from fraud. Ofcom must be appropriately resourced to regulate the whole of social media, and it will need help. To ensure that the law is enforced and fraud eradicated in this country, PIMFA has repeatedly called for the Financial Conduct Authority to have a role in helping Ofcom manage its new position. We will continue to campaign for the FCA to have such a role and hope that, in time, it will help stop fraudsters from gaining access to potential victims.”
Priti Verma, chief risk officer at Quilter, said: “We’ve had an exceptionally long period of time where politicians and organisations have all been saying the same thing – that the Online Safety Bill must include measures that put the onus on the tech companies to take direct action for advertising scams and impersonation scams. It is therefore a good step forward that this Bill is finally going to receive Royal Assent and includes those measures.”
UK Finance reported that over £1.2 billion was stolen through fraud in 2022 and Verma said consumers across the UK need firm assurance that tech companies are serious about eradicating the threat of online fraud.
She added: “The fact that, until now, fraudsters were able to sell their fraudulent wares, with virtually no regulatory measures in place to protect consumers, or sanctions on those tech firms, has been a failing for many years.
“The tech sector must now step up, embrace the new measures and help raise awareness of online threats through advertising and media campaigns.”
