Internet: Safety
(asked on 6th June 2022) - View Source
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of the definitions provided in the Online Safety Bill for (1) journalistic content, (2) content of democratic importance, and (3) news publisher content.
Answered by
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Her Majesty’s Government is confident that the protections for recognised news publishers, journalistic content, and content of democratic importance are technically feasible and that the Bill’s definition of the relevant terms is appropriate.
Recognised news publishers’ content will be exempted from platforms’ new online safety duties. This means tech companies will be under no legal obligation to apply their new safety duties to that content. The criteria under which an organisation qualifies as a publisher are set in the Bill. When drafting these criteria, Her Majesty’s Government has taken significant care to ensure established news publishers are captured, while limiting the opportunity for others to benefit.
Category 1 service providers will also need to have clear policies relating to their treatment of journalistic content and content of democratic importance, and to ensure these are enforced consistently. Ofcom will set out further details in codes of practice about how companies can comply with these duties.