Select committee: Petitions Committee
Recommendation 5
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Published 1 Feb 2022
Paragraph 44
Petitions Committee Tackling Online Abuse All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government’s online safety proposals do not go far enough in acknowledging and seeking to tackle the heightened levels of abuse faced by some communities online. While the requirement for Ofcom to consult with civil society groups in Tackling Online Abuse 47 developing elements of the regulatory framework such as codes of practice for platforms is welcome, the Online Safety Bill should ensure specific protections for these communities. The Bill should align with the protections already established in the Equality Act and hate crime laws, and require social media companies to consider the different risks potentially faced by users from these communities on their platforms. It should also include additional user advocacy arrangements over and above those already set out in the draft Bill.
From: Petitions Committee, Second Report - Tackling online abuse (HC 766), paragraph 44, 1 February 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 28 March 2022 (deadline 1 April 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and agrees with a number of its recommendations, while taking a different approach to others, including a statutory consultation duty, legal but harmful content on smaller platforms and a single foundational duty.
- On Recommendation 4, it agrees that hate crime and Violence against Women and Girls offences should be listed as priority illegal offences on the face of the Bill, a change announced on 5 February.
- On Recommendation 3, it does not think a statutory duty to consult civil society organisations is "necessary", citing the existing consultation provisions in the draft Bill.
- On Recommendation 7, it does not think it "appropriate" to require platforms to remove or interfere with legal content, so the duties on legal but harmful content apply to Category 1 services.
- On Recommendations 10 and 11, it is "carefully considering" the Law Commission's hate crime report and will "shortly publish" a new hate crime strategy, without stating a date.