Thank you for contacting me about the Online Safety Bill.
The Online Safety Bill will make the UK the safest place to go online and I am glad that the Bill is continuing to progress through Parliament.
On 5 December 2022, MPs agreed to recommit certain Clauses and Schedules of the Online Safety Bill to a Public Bill Committee. This took place in mid December 2022 and the Bill completed its stages in the House of Commons on 17 January 2023. It completed its stages in the House of Lords on 6 September 2023, and has now returned to the Commons with amendments.
A large number of my colleagues, stakeholders and members of the public have been particularly concerned about provisions that would result in the over-removal of legitimate legal content by creating a new category of ‘legal but harmful’ speech. However admirable the goal, I do not believe that it is morally right to censor speech online that is legal to say in person. Ministers have therefore quite rightly removed 'legal but harmful' from the Bill in relation to adults, and replaced it with a fairer, simpler and more effective mechanism called the Triple Shield. This focuses on user choice, consumer rights and accountability whilst protecting freedom of expression.
Some people would like the Online Safety Bill to be dropped. I disagree with this position as there is a clear need to better protect children online. Recent research from Ipsos has shown that 83 per cent of people think social media companies should have a duty to protect children who are using their platforms (only 4 per cent disagree).
I will continue to closely follow the progress of the Bill.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Craig Whittaker MP
September 2023