UEL expert calls online law “first of its kind”

The government has hailed a new era for internet safety and choice, after the Online Safety Act received Royal Assent on 26 October. The act is now law, putting in place new rules that the government claims will make the UK the safest place in the world to be online.

Julia Davidson, Professor of Criminology at the University of East London, contributed significantly to the draft legislation over the last six years, through her work with government departments, regulatory bodies and tech companies.

Professor Davidson said,

This new legislation is the first of its kind in the world and will lead the way for others who are looking to follow, such as the US and EU. It places a legal responsibility upon industry, social media companies mainly, to keep children, young people and adults safe online.

"The bill introduces into law for the first time the concept of legal but harmful content in respect of children, recognising the damaging impact that this can have. The categories include pornographic content, content that does not meet a criminal threshold but which promotes, encourages or provides instructions for suicide, self-harm or eating disorders, content that depicts or encourages serious violence, and bullying content.

The introduction of this aspect of the legislation has been controversial in the context of the ways in which this might be evaluated and enforced by the regulator Ofcom. The legislation also requires social media platforms to prevent children under 13 from accessing their platforms through age verification technologies. Platforms will have to disclose which technologies they are using and demonstrate how this is being enforced."

Professor Davidson, who serves as the director of UEL’s Institute for Connected Communities, is one of the UK's foremost experts on policy and practice in children and young people's use of digital media and online harm. She has worked in the child sexual abuse and exploitation field with abuse survivors, practitioners and policymakers for over 30 years.

She is also Chair of the UK Council for Internet Safety Evidence Group which played a key role in the formulation of the legislation by advising government ministers across different departments.

She, with Prof Mary Aiken,  has also led work on the Safety Tech sector at a time when it was in its infancy, and worked with Ofcom on the legislative approach and how it will be put into practice.

Professor Davidson’s work on the act has included the Safer Technology, Safer Users report for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, a review of online harassment, including cyberbullying, trolling, revenge pornography, and hate crime, and a report on video service provider regulation.

The UK’s communications regulator Ofcom now has significant powers to act against companies which break the law, with companies facing fines of up to £18 million or 10 per cent of their annual global turnover, whichever is greater. Criminal action can also be taken against senior managers who fail to follow information requests from Ofcom.

The regulator will be able to hold companies and senior managers criminally liable if they fail to comply with enforcement notices in relation to various child safety duties, or if they allow content showing child sexual abuse and exploitation on their services.

Platforms will also need to show they are committed to removing other types of illegal content including controlling or coercive behaviour, extreme sexual violence, illegal immigration and people smuggling, promoting or facilitating suicide, promoting self-harm, animal cruelty, the sale of illegal drugs or weapons and terrorism-related content.

Other new offences have been created, including cyber-flashing - sending unsolicited sexual imagery online - and the sharing of "deepfake" pornography, where AI is used to insert someone's likeness into pornographic material.

The new legislation has been controversial, though, with critics saying it may have implications for the privacy of internet users. WhatsApp is among the services that have threatened to withdraw from the UK over the act.