Government accused of relaxing internet safety law

Ministerial plans to revise the government’s top internet safety law could result in all new users of social media platforms being forced to verify their age to access websites, campaigners warn.

Culture Minister Michelle Donelan announced a series of new amendments to the landmark law, sparking accusations that it would “dilute” powers to control the Internet.

As part of their consideration of the bill, ministers removed a provision aimed at protecting users from “lawful but harmful” online content after Conservative MPs raised concerns about its impact on freedom of expression.

Instead, the legislation will ensure adult users have access to tools to disable content they deem to be dangerous without a full site-wide ban.

However, campaign groups have raised concerns that this will lead to a much greater use of age verification to access social media platforms, requiring users to disclose personal information.

Dr. Monika Horten, free speech policy manager at the Open Rights Group, said: IRe: “Account doubles as an age limit, meaning users must verify their age to access all content types.”

The government says that adults who do not want to see certain types of content, including “legal content related to suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders, or content that is offensive or hate speech based on race, ethnicity, religion, disability , gender, gender reassignment” or “Sexual Orientation” have access to tools to reduce the likelihood of them appearing in their social media feeds.

“This gives users more personal choices without compromising freedom of expression,” the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports said.

But Dr. Horten said the changes indicate that any adult who wishes to access such content may be required to provide proof of age.

“As it stands, TBC is how it will work. Does this mean that a user must provide identification every time they visit a website with content that has been identified as potentially harmful?”

DCMS officials insist that the vast majority of users already on social networking sites do not need to provide proof of age, as the platforms can already verify their age from their behavioral data and profiles.

However, officials acknowledge that sites such as Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram may require new users to verify their age through age verification to access the platforms.

One industry expert, who asked not to be named, called the changes to the “legal but harmful” issue a “major mistake” that would lead to bad legislation.

“Who decides what violence is? Do default platform settings disable malicious content and require users to log out when visiting the site? And what about the most vulnerable people, who often do not know how to use such tools,” the source said.

Labor shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell called a “bullshit switch” that allows adult users to filter out harmful content “unusable”.

Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly committed suicide after seeing thousands of photos of self-harm, expressed concern that age verification measures could be bypassed.

“If they find a way out, this ‘malicious but legal’ content will still be around and the algorithms can recommend it to them – this is the content that drained Molly of her life force and made her stop wanting life.” he warned in a statement released on Tuesday.

Ms Donelan said the government is “essentially” introducing other provisions in the bill that are “legal but harmful to children”.

She said child protection had been stepped up and it would be a “gross misrepresentation” to say otherwise.

“Nothing is diluted or removed when it comes to children,” she told the BBC.