The proposed legislation and the impact on social media companies and wider society

Following the Queen’s Speech in May, the UK government has outlined plans to regulate the internet for the first time in the Online Safety Bill. In an article published in The Law Society Gazette, Brackenbury’s client analyses the proposed legislation and the impact on social media companies and wider society.

In May, the UK’s draft Online Safety Bill was published. The Bill, which has its origins in the Online Harms White Paper, published over two years ago, delivers on the government’s manifesto commitment to make the UK ‘the safest place in the world to be online’. New laws have been proposed to make social media companies and search engines more responsible and accountable for the online safety of their users, including the establishment of a Duty of Care and the appointment of Ofcom as regulator able to levy fines for breaches up to 10% of global turnover.You can read the full version on their website.