A new social media bill is currently being developed by legislators in in the UK, that could send the CEOs of social media sites and large digital firms to jail, if they fail to protect minors from harmful content on their platforms.
The U.K.’s Online Safety Bill aims to prevent its social media users – especially children – from being exposed to violent and sexual content online, content including but not limited to sexual abuse and revenge porn.
Political commentators predict the Online Safety Bill will be approved soon, and will result in digital platforms such as Meta, TikTok, Twitter and Google being liable for fines and/or other legal action if violent and sexual content is not removed from its platforms, particularly when content of this nature is already prohibited within the platform’s existing terms and conditions and community standards.
Tech companies have pushed back on the proposed Bill stating that it will be impossible to enforce and have urged UK legislators to loosen its requirements so that it can be successfully adhered to.
However, UK legislators have not agreed with this notion.
Instead, the Bill is expected to make it to the House of Lords this coming February and become law be the end of 2023, meaning that CEOs of social media and other digital platforms will become liable if harmful content is not removed from its platforms, possibly resulting in a prison sentence.
Previous governments, such as the Australian Federal Government, have attempted to impose hefty fines on digital giants such as Meta, but to no avail.
It will be interesting to see whether the threat of jail time will force tech heavyweights to expedite their research, development and processes to clean up their platforms and protect children from harmful content more rapidly than has been the case thus far.
