Yesterday, Julian Knight the Chair of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, delivered a statement on the Committee report on the draft online safety bill.
Mr Knight opened by emphasizing the importance of the legislation, which will prevent harm, and make service providers more accountable for their decisions.
However, Mr Knight also expressed his concerns that the Bill in its current form lacks clarity on what falls within the parameters of illegal content and in its treatment of legal but harmful content. The Committee proposes reframing the definition of ‘illegal content’ to include context.
Mr Knight concluded by addresses the issues of scrutiny and called more the Government to offer more clarity in the Bill on when and how the new powers given to Ofcom will be used.
See the full statement here.