Select committee: Petitions Committee
Recommendation 13
Second Report - Tackling online abuse
Published 1 Feb 2022
Paragraph 60
Petitions Committee Tackling Online Abuse All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Online Safety Bill should retain the provision in the draft Bill to hold platforms liable for failing to consistently enforce their terms of service. We heard that this step would significantly improve users’ online experiences—especially those users most likely to face abuse. However, compliance with rules that platforms themselves retain the freedom to set does not provide a sufficiently clear, objective or robust standard of expected protection for adult users in relation to content that is legal but harmful. The Bill should provide a stronger framework in primary legislation for tackling the harm arising from this content.
From: Petitions Committee, Second Report - Tackling online abuse (HC 766), paragraph 60, 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.