Key Points
Back then, three prime ministers ago, the billor at least the white paper that would form its basisoutlined an approach that recognized that social media platforms were already de facto arbiters of what was acceptable speech on large parts of the internet, but that this was a responsibility they didnt necessarily want and werent always capable of discharging..
Some of the more nuanced principles around the harms caused by legal but harmful content have been watered down, and added in is a highly divisive requirement for messaging platforms to scan users messages for illegal material, such as child sexual abuse material, which tech companies and privacy campaigners say is an unwarranted attack on encryption...
The act includes strict rules forcing platforms to move swiftly to remove any illegal postsuch as terrorist content or child sexual abuse materialbut not on disinformation campaigns comprised of a drip-drip of misleading content, failing to understand that when that turns into things going viral and spreading, then the harm can occur cumulatively...
Under the Act, bigger platforms will be expected to police potentially harmful, but not illegal, content by applying their own standards more consistently than they currently dosomething that free-speech campaigners have decried as giving private companies control over whats acceptable discourse online, but which some experts on dis- and misinformation say is a cop-out that means Big Tech will be less accountable for spreading falsehoods..
Its the new GDPR, she says.. By far the most divisive clause out of the more than 300 pages of the Online Safety Act is Section 122, which has been widely interpreted as compelling companies to scan users messages to make sure that they arent transmitting illegal material..
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