The British law will apply not only to social networks, but also to file-sharing services, online forums and search engines / Lee Smith / Reuters

The UK government has unveiled measures that aim to make the UK internet the “safest in the world”. It is calling them the world’s first online safety laws. They will force tech companies to protect their users from content linked to terrorism, violence, child pornography or the spread of disinformation. The government also plans to set up an independent regulator to ensure the rules are followed.

The rules are expected to make tech executives personally liable, to fine them heavily and to have their websites blocked. “We cannot allow the bosses of some tech companies to simply look the other way and deny their responsibility, even when the content on their platforms leads to crime, abuse and even murder,” said Home Secretary Sajid Javid ( quoted by the Financial Times). “They had the chance to put their own house in order and they failed to take it and to protect our children.”

There will be an open public consultation on these proposals in the coming months. The consultations will end on 1 July, after which a corresponding law should be adopted taking them into account.

“The era of self-regulation for internet companies is over,” Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright told The Wall Street Journal, adding that he hoped the U.S. and other countries would look closely at the British model.

In the past, companies like Facebook and Google have generally been accommodating in their efforts to curb the spread of illegal content on their platforms. But in recent years, pressure has mounted over allegations that Russia used social media to spread disinformation ahead of the 2016 US presidential election and the recent New Zealand mosque attack, in which the attacker livestreamed the shooting on Facebook . Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp was heavily criticized by Indian authorities in 2018 after a wave of violence in which many innocent people were targeted by angry mobs for spreading false rumors about their involvement in child trafficking or other crimes. WhatsApp has since imposed restrictions on forwarding messages to multiple chats at once.

Facebook and Google said they were already working to remove illegal and harmful content, increasingly using artificial intelligence, and supported regulation. But techUK, the lobby group representing them, said the government’s proposals needed to be more detailed to avoid uncertainty. “By choosing this path, the UK risks setting precedents that could be abused by less open and democratic countries,” said Venus Ali of techUK.

Several countries have already taken steps to regulate tech companies. Germany, for example, passed a law last year that could fine them €50 million for failing to remove calls to violence and other prohibited content. Australia passed a law in early April following the New Zealand terror attack that would criminally punish tech executives and fine them up to 10% of their global revenue if they allow hateful content to spread on their social media platforms. The EU is also discussing a law that would fine companies up to 4% of their global revenue if they fail to remove terrorist material within an hour of it being posted.

Blocking and fines. How the government will punish for fakes and insults

Technologies / Media

In Russia, since November 2017, search engines are required to delete links to prohibited sites, the registry of which (maintained by Roskomnadzor) includes resources containing calls for extremism, propaganda of suicide and pornography, advertising drugs, gambling without a license, as well as pirate sites. And in March of this year, a law was passed punishing, in particular, for the dissemination of fake news on the Internet: this is recognized as knowingly false socially significant information that threatens the life and health of people or may lead to a massive violation of public order or safety. Such content will be blocked extrajudicially at the initiative of the Prosecutor General or his deputies, large fines are provided for violations.

The UK's proposed laws differ in scope from those being implemented in other Western countries, as they would cover not only social media but also file-sharing sites, online forums and search engines, the FT notes. In addition, a new independent regulator (funded by industry players) would monitor compliance with the rules.

It will likely be difficult for regulators to enforce the removal of extremist content, warns Clark Hogan-Taylor of Moonshot CVE, a counterterrorism software startup that partners with Google. “In order to fine Facebook for not removing a certain number of videos, you have to know that they haven’t,” Hogan-Taylor says (as quoted by the WSJ). “But how are they going to measure [that number]?”

Britain aims to make its internet 'the safest in the world'