Oldham MP says there’s ‘much more to be done' on the Online Safety Bill

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP, Debbie Abrahams is a member of the committee working on the online safety bill

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP, Debbie Abrahams, has welcomed the Government’s acceptance of 66 recommendations made by the Joint Committee working on the draft Online Safety Bill, but says significant gaps still remain in reducing harmful content online.

Following months of work from the Joint Committee, of which she was a member, the Government has agreed to make changes to the draft online safety bill and introduced a revised Online Safety Bill into the House of Commons on Thursday.

From July to December 2021, the Joint Committee worked on the draft Online Safety Bill which received over 200 pieces of written evidence, and took over 50 hours of oral testimony from witnesses including, footballer Rio Ferdinand, Facebook whistle-blowers Frances Haugen and Sophie Zhang, Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa, Molly Russell’s father Ian Russell, and Secretary of State Nadine Dorries.

Responding to the publication of the Online Safety Bill, Ms Abrahams said: “I welcome the fact that the Government has agreed to sixty six of our recommendations, which go part of the way to making the internet a safer place for UK citizens, but there is much more to be done and the Bill will need to be significantly strengthened to make online spaces as safe as most people would like them to be.
 
"The Government has made the process much more difficult than it needs to be by delaying publication of the Bill and they have ignored many of our key recommendations, which is worrying.
 
"For example, I’m concerned that the Bill will not do enough to protect children from being lured into abuse, nor will it give the regulator enough teeth to properly regulate the relationship between tech firms and people.
 
"I’m also very concerned that the issue of online disinformation, which threatens our freedoms as a democracy, is inadequate.
 
"I will continue to work alongside colleagues, across all the political divide, to strengthen this Bill during its passage through the Commons.”
 
Areas in which Ms Abrahams MP believes the Bill falls short are:

• The central recommendation of the Joint Committee that it be simplified and have an overarching duty of care/set of objectives from Ofcom has been rejected
• The system of categorisation remains the same, meaning smaller platforms which pose high risks of harm will not be covered by many of the duties in the Bill
• Major reforms needed for child protection have not been fully addressed, including cross-platform risks, ‘breadcrumbing’ and upstream harm disruption
• The Bill has not accepted recommendations for criminal liability for repeated and systematic failing resulting in serious harm to users
• Recommendations around addressing the root drivers of disinformation have not been accepted

The bill - originally announced in 2019 - covers a wide array of topics relating to harmful material online.

It focuses on platforms that host user-generated content such as Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, and requires companies to prevent the spread of illegal content such as child sexual abuse and terrorist material.

It also mandates tech firms to protect adults from legal but harmful content such as cyberbullying.

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