Draft Online Safety (List of Overseas Regulators) Regulations 2024

Chris Evans Excerpts

Tuesday 9th January 2024 General Committees

[Chris Evans (Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. May I congratulate your team, Sheffield Wednesday, on safely navigating the third round of the FA cup? [Laughter.] We should have had a “Hear, hear” for that, surely. I echo the Minister in thanking all hon. Members who took part in the passage of the Online Safety Bill. I have recently been appointed to the post of shadow Minister, so I am late to the game.

At a time when digital networking plays an integral role in our lives, we have to ensure the safety and wellbeing of individuals navigating the internet. The internet is an amazing tool for connecting with others: family and friends can stay in touch and be close even while they are on the other side of the world, as we saw during the pandemic. Using Zoom has been a lifesaver for so many people. People now have access to more technology on their smartphone than the astronauts when they first landed on the moon, but there is no doubt that such vastness and power presents significant challenges, particularly in content moderation and in safeguarding users against harmful material.

Labour has long campaigned for stricter measures to be put in place to protect the public and particularly children online. It has become increasingly apparent that social media companies simply cannot be trusted to regulate their own content. For too many years, the Government’s legislation has failed to protect us. However, I am glad that they have finally acknowledged that.

Through working with other countries, we can come together to make safe social spaces and above all to protect individuals, especially the most vulnerable such as children. The draft regulations recognise the need for international collaboration in upholding online safety standards. The legislation aims to identify and designate overseas regulators capable of aligning with and enforcing online safety measures. It acknowledges the global nature of the internet and the necessity of co-ordinated efforts among nations to ensure a secure online environment. It includes regulatory bodies in countries including but not limited to Australia, France and Germany—countries that, like ours, recognise the importance of a unified stance on online safety. It is simply not tenable for one country legislating alone to prevent its citizens from seeing harmful material; the internet is too expansive for that. With countries acting together, we can secure the best chance of making the internet a safer space, which is something that this legislation puts into motion.

Responsible content moderation is a particularly strong point of the draft regulations. They seek to create a framework that holds online platforms accountable for the content hosted on their sites, while protecting the most vulnerable individuals, especially our children, from exposure to harmful material. As a parent myself, I am relieved that Ofcom will be enabled, in co-operation with overseas regulators, not only to assist them in their online regulatory functions but to aid in criminal proceedings, thus helping to keep people safe across the world.

The legality surrounding online safety is complicated, so delineating a list of overseas regulators within a legislative framework benefits everyone. By offering a structured approach, the draft regulations will allow online platforms to navigate the complex landscape of content moderation. By providing clear guidelines and affiliations with recognised regulatory bodies, this initiative fosters greater transparency and accountability in content moderation practices.

The importance of co-operation between online platforms and regulatory bodies cannot be overstated. Establishing an effective partnership ensures that platforms have access to the resources, guidance and best practices that are necessary for robust content moderation. It also enables regulators to understand the challenges faced by the platforms, and so leads to more nuanced and effective regulatory measures.

In discussing the draft regulations, it is crucial to address potential concerns and areas for further consideration. There is no doubt that there is a worrying practice of social media companies profiting from invasive algorithms that allow them to push all kinds of content, including harmful content, to anyone with a digital device. I believe that the draft regulations fall incredibly short on that. However, although progress on digital safety has been slow, the Opposition are happy to support the regulations and see them as a step in the right direction from a Government who have seemed timid in these matters. There is no doubt that the regulations represent a crucial stride towards improving online safety, fostering global co-operation and, more importantly, moving us all to a safer digital space.