Source · Select Committees · Petitions Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Accepted
Paragraph: 50
It is not acceptable that young people should see encountering abuse as just part of...
Conclusion
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.
Government Response 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.
Paragraph Reference:
50
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We welcome the Committee’s recommendations regarding the Law Commission’s review, ‘Modernising the Communications Offences.’ The government’s interim response to the Law Commission’s review confirmed that the Bill will incorporate the Law Commission’s recommended harmful communications offence, threatening communications offence, false communications offence. The Bill will also include the Law Commission’s recommended cyberflashing offence. We note the Committee’s comments related to the interpretation of the harm-based offence. The offence—and the other new communication offences—will ensure that the criminal law is focused on the most harmful behaviour while protecting free expression. The government also anticipates the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) will update the guidelines on prosecuting cases involving communications sent via social media. We will monitor the implementation of the new communications offences and its impact on the criminal justice system once these offences come into force. Notifiable offences are collected from police forces on a monthly basis and published within the quarterly Crime statistics by ONS found here Crime in England and Wales—Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk).