Recommendations & Conclusions
10 items
2
Recommendation
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Accepted
As part of its role as the new online safety regulator, we recommend that Ofcom should regularly report on the incidence of online abuse, illegal hate speech, and Violence Against Women and Girls content on the largest social media platforms. This should include disaggregating estimates of the likelihood of a …
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As part of its role as the new online safety regulator, we recommend that Ofcom should regularly report on the incidence of online abuse, illegal hate speech, and Violence Against Women and Girls content on the largest social media platforms. This should include disaggregating estimates of the likelihood of a user encountering or being the target of abusive content according to characteristics including race, disability, sexuality, and gender, as well as differentiating between child and adult users. (Paragraph 22) Social media and user safety
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Government response AI summary
The government stated the Online Safety Bill will require large service providers to publish annual transparency reports on online harms, and Ofcom will produce its own report, gather data, and conduct risk assessments and reviews to understand prevalence.
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7
Recommendation
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Accepted
We recommend that the Online Safety Bill should include abuse based on the characteristics protected under the Equality Act and hate crime legislation as priority harmful content in the primary legislation. It should also list hate crime and Violence Against Women and Girls offences as specific relevant offences within the …
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We recommend that the Online Safety Bill should include abuse based on the characteristics protected under the Equality Act and hate crime legislation as priority harmful content in the primary legislation. It should also list hate crime and Violence Against Women and Girls offences as specific relevant offences within the scope of the Bill’s illegal content safety duties and specify the particular offences covered under these headings, as the draft Bill already does for terrorism and Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse offences.
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees to list hate crime and Violence Against Women and Girls offences as priority illegal content in the Online Safety Bill, detailing specific included offences, and announced this change on February 5th.
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8
Recommendation
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Accepted
The risk assessments platforms will be required to carry out under the new online safety regulatory framework must not treat all users as being equally at risk from abusive content or behaviour. Instead, we recommend that platforms should be required to give separate consideration to the different risks faced by …
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The risk assessments platforms will be required to carry out under the new online safety regulatory framework must not treat all users as being equally at risk from abusive content or behaviour. Instead, we recommend that platforms should be required to give separate consideration to the different risks faced by groups including women, users from minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled users, and LGBT+ users, and that this requirement should be made explicit in the risk assessment duties set out in the Online Safety Bill.
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Government response AI summary
The government has accepted the recommendation, stating they have amended the risk assessment provisions in the Online Safety Bill to require companies to specifically consider risks to individuals with certain characteristics or group memberships.
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9
Conclusion
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Accepted
It is not acceptable that young people should see encountering abuse as just part of the online experience. We welcome the strength of the duties the draft Online Safety Bill would impose on platforms to help reduce the chance that children and young people will come across or be targeted …
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It is not acceptable that young people should see encountering abuse as just part of the online experience. We welcome the strength of the duties the draft Online Safety Bill would impose on platforms to help reduce the chance that children and young people will come across or be targeted by abusive content online. However, we are concerned that the draft Bill’s chosen threshold for the child user condition may mean children will remain at risk of encountering abusive and other harmful content on smaller platforms, where it can still lead to real-world harm.
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Government response AI summary
The government maintains that the Online Safety Bill's child user condition already addresses the committee's concern about smaller platforms, as it applies to any service likely to attract a significant number of child users regardless of platform size.
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10
Recommendation
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Accepted
The Government must ensure the Online Safety Bill’s safety duties relating to content harmful to children apply across a sufficiently comprehensive range of platforms to prevent young people continuing to be able to access or encounter abusive or other harmful content online once the legislation is enacted. We recommend that …
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The Government must ensure the Online Safety Bill’s safety duties relating to content harmful to children apply across a sufficiently comprehensive range of platforms to prevent young people continuing to be able to access or encounter abusive or other harmful content online once the legislation is enacted. We recommend that the Government reviews the child user condition proposed in the draft Bill to ensure it does not impede this aim by excluding too many platforms from the scope of these duties. (Paragraph 51) 48 Tackling Online Abuse
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Government response AI summary
The government states the Online Safety Bill is designed to bring high-risk services into scope, and the child user condition ensures protections for children on any in-scope services they are likely to access. They assert this approach is targeted and proportionate, with enforceable requirements for …
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22
Recommendation
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Accepted
Anonymous abuse online is significant in both its volume and impact. However, the evidence we heard suggested that tackling the abuse being perpetrated under the cloak of anonymity, rather than imposing restrictions on online anonymity, should be the focus of efforts to resolve this problem. Allowing users to post anonymously …
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Anonymous abuse online is significant in both its volume and impact. However, the evidence we heard suggested that tackling the abuse being perpetrated under the cloak of anonymity, rather than imposing restrictions on online anonymity, should be the focus of efforts to resolve this problem. Allowing users to post anonymously does nonetheless entail a risk that this capability is misused, and so it would be sensible and proportionate for online platforms to be required to specifically evaluate—and consider what steps could be taken in response to—links between anonymity and abusive content on their platform. (Paragraph 92) 50 Tackling Online Abuse
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the recommendation, stating the Online Safety Bill already requires in-scope service providers to identify, mitigate, and manage risks associated with online anonymity. As part of risk assessments, all services must evaluate the role of anonymous profiles in spreading harmful content and …
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23
Recommendation
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Accepted
As part of the risk assessments social media platforms will be required to carry out under the new online safety regulation, we recommend that platforms should be required to evaluate the role played by anonymous accounts in creating and disseminating abusive content, and to consider how to minimise the misuse …
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As part of the risk assessments social media platforms will be required to carry out under the new online safety regulation, we recommend that platforms should be required to evaluate the role played by anonymous accounts in creating and disseminating abusive content, and to consider how to minimise the misuse of anonymity for this purpose. Platforms should be required to take action to mitigate risks of harm to users uncovered through this work arising from anonymously posted content.
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the recommendation, stating the Online Safety Bill already requires service providers to identify, mitigate, and manage risks associated with online anonymity, implementing appropriate protections as part of their risk assessments.
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27
Recommendation
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Accepted
While we heard that there is insufficient evidence to determine that anonymity is the main driver of abusive behaviour online, we recognise that a proportion of abusive content comes from anonymous users. Giving users the option to filter out content from accounts that have not provided a form of identity …
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While we heard that there is insufficient evidence to determine that anonymity is the main driver of abusive behaviour online, we recognise that a proportion of abusive content comes from anonymous users. Giving users the option to filter out content from accounts that have not provided a form of identity verification, on a voluntary basis, would offer an extra tool that users can use to give themselves an additional layer of protection from abusive content.
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Government response AI summary
The government welcomes and agrees with the recommendation, detailing new user verification and empowerment duties in the Bill that will allow adult users to verify their identity and control interactions with unverified users.
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28
Recommendation
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Accepted
We recommend that the Government set an expectation that the largest social media platforms should offer users the option to filter content by user verification status and block content from users who have chosen not to verify their account. User verification should not necessarily have to be in the form …
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We recommend that the Government set an expectation that the largest social media platforms should offer users the option to filter content by user verification status and block content from users who have chosen not to verify their account. User verification should not necessarily have to be in the form of an ID document, and Tackling Online Abuse 51 we recommend that Ofcom should conduct research to establish possible methods of account verification that offer a robust way to reduce users’ exposure to harmful content while also being maximally inclusive and accessible. (Paragraph 109) Social responses to online abuse
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Government response AI summary
The government welcomes and agrees with the recommendation, stating new user verification and empowerment duties in the Bill will require Category 1 services to offer identity verification and tools for users to control interactions with unverified accounts, with Ofcom guiding on verification methods.
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29
Recommendation
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Accepted
Alongside the legal, technological and regulatory responses to online abuse we have considered in this report, there is also a need to achieve long-term cultural and behavioural change that tackles online abuse by discouraging people from posting such content to begin with. The Government’s Online Media Literacy programme rightly seeks …
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Alongside the legal, technological and regulatory responses to online abuse we have considered in this report, there is also a need to achieve long-term cultural and behavioural change that tackles online abuse by discouraging people from posting such content to begin with. The Government’s Online Media Literacy programme rightly seeks to give users of online platforms the skills and knowledge they need to be safe online, but there is also an equal need for the Government to invest in programmes which educate both adults and young people about acceptable and supportive online behaviour, and which challenge the prejudiced attitudes which are manifested in online abuse. (Paragraph 113) 52 Tackling Online Abuse
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Government response AI summary
The government highlights its existing Online Media Literacy Strategy and Action Plan, which includes funding organisations, supporting teachers, and establishing a taskforce to empower users with the skills and knowledge for safe online choices.
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