Source · Select Committees · Petitions Committee
Recommendation 27
27
Accepted
Paragraph: 108
While we heard that there is insufficient evidence to determine that anonymity is the main...
Recommendation
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.
Government Response 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.
Paragraph Reference:
108
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government welcomes this recommendation and agrees that it is important that users are given the choice over who they interact with. The government has included new duties in the Bill on Category 1 service providers to give adult users more control over their online experience. The new user verification duty will ensure that Category 1 service providers provide all adult users with the option to verify their identity, should they wish to do so. The recommended forms of identification by which users can verify their identity will be set out through guidance issued by Ofcom. As part of preparing the guidance Ofcom must ensure that the recommended verification measures are accessible to vulnerable users. In preparing the guidance Ofcom must also consult the Information Commissioner, persons with technical expertise, persons representing vulnerable adult users and anyone else they consider appropriate. Alongside the user verification duty sits the new user empowerment duty. The user empowerment duty will ensure that Category 1 service providers provide adult users with the tools to control whether they encounter or interact with unverified users. This includes preventing unverified users from seeing their content or seeing content from an unverified user. In addition, Category 1 service providers, for harmful content that Category 1 services do tolerate, will have to provide users with the tools to control what types of legal but harmful content they see. This could include, for example, content on the discussion of self-harm recovery which may be tolerated on a category one service but which a particular user may not want to see. These two new duties, in combination, will help provide robust protections for adults, including vulnerable users. They will ensure that UK users have more control over who they interact with and what content they see.