The government in Downing Street has indicated that it is contemplating an amendment to the online safety bill that would enable the imposition of prison terms on social media executives deemed not to have safeguarded children's safety.
At least 37 conservative legislators support the suggestion, including former home secretary Priti Patel and former work and pensions minister Iain Duncan Smith.
On Thursday, Jan. 12, Downing Street signaled it would consider it, as per The Guardian.
Bill Revisions
If the proposal approves, the communications watchdog Ofcom could bring criminal charges against the heads of social media corporations that have broken the law. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has already reversed the course on planning and onshore windfarms in response to pressure from his own backbenchers.
On Thursday, a representative from Downing Street stated that their goal is to hold social media sites accountable for damaging information while also ensuring the UK remains a wonderful location to invest and build a digital firm.
"We are confident we can achieve both of these things. We will carefully consider all the proposed amendments to the online safety bill and set out the position when [the] report stage continues."
As worded, the act would allow Ofcom to punish firms up to 10% of their worldwide revenue for breaking the law. Executives will only face legal consequences from Ofcom if they refuse to comply with an inquiry.
However, many conservative legislators are dismayed by this since they think the regulator should be granted more authority.
In all, 37 members of parliament have signed on to the amendment, which would give Ofcom the authority to bring criminal charges against specific executives who were found to have aided and abetted violations of the child protection provisions of the bill. The maximum penalty a judge might impose would be two years in jail.
Alterations to prior proposals to address damaging but non-criminal content viewed by adults, such as cyberbullying and sexist or racist material, are also part of the bill. It will undergo its report and third reading stage in the House of Commons next week.
UK's Online Safety Bill
The testimony of whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, who accused the company of consistently putting profits ahead of user safety, had a major influence on the legislation.
The bill aims to tighten down on a variety of online material that ministers feel is causing substantial damage to users.
The measure mandates the removal of any material that advocates or depicts self-harm, sexual assault, or the facilitation of suicide from all commercial platforms. As a result, businesses will have to disclose risk assessments and implement stringent age restrictions to protect minors from harm on their networks.
Bottomline is that businesses in the tech industry must be transparent about their content moderation policies and procedures in their terms of service.
In addition, users can request that a type of material be hidden from them when they visit social networking sites.
