Select committee: Petitions Committee
Recommendation 6
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Published 1 Feb 2022
Paragraph 45
Petitions Committee Tackling Online Abuse All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recommend that the Online Safety Bill should include a statutory duty for the Government to consult with civil society organisations representing children and users who are most affected by online abuse on the legislation’s ongoing effectiveness at tackling online abuse, and how it could be refined to better achieve this goal. This should include, but need not be limited to, explicitly requiring the Secretary of State to consult with such organisations when reviewing the regulatory framework as set out in Section 115 of the draft Bill. The organisations consulted in this way should include those consulted by Ofcom in developing codes of practice and transparency reporting guidance for platforms.
From: Petitions Committee, Second Report - Tackling online abuse (HC 766), paragraph 45, 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.