The Online Safety Bill as it stands is a mess that needs a total rewrite, according to a leading digital human rights lawyer. Dr Susie Alegre warns that the proposed internet safety laws fail to address the root causes of online harm, such as the systems which recommend posts to users, and that the laws would also threaten free speech.
The Government has pledged to reintroduce the much delayed Online Safety Bill to Parliament shortly, with Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan saying this week that ministers were working “flat out” to deliver it, having previously suggested some tweaks would be made.
But Dr Alegre said the whole Bill needed work, writing in a legal opinion article that it was poorly drafted with “broad and opaque” definitions that would make it hard for companies to know what was required of them. She also said the Bill was too focused on policing types of content rather than tackling the “algorithmic systems and design features” that underpin the biggest platforms.
