The United Kingdom moved a step closer to regulating social media in December when a parliamentary committee recommended major changes to the country’s Online Safety Bill so as to hold internet service providers responsible for material published on their platforms. “We need to call time on the Wild West online,” said committee chair Damian Collins. “What’s illegal offline should be regulated online.” The draft law, which will be submitted to the British parliament in 2022, is aimed at penalizing companies that allow content relating to crimes like child abuse and online harassment; news reports and free expression groups have flagged similar efforts in Kazakhstan, Australia, Indonesia, Chile, and Canada, among other countries.
CPJ’s Alicia Ceccanese spoke with Kian Vesteinsson, a research analyst for technology and democracy at Freedom House, and Jacob Mchangama, executive director of Justitia, about their respective research.
