Feeling safer already?

The grant of Royal Assent to the Online Safety Act 2023 on 26 October 2023 starts the countdown to Ofcom’s Roadmap to Regulation for user-to-user services, search services, video sharing platforms and services with pornographic content. Handley Gill’s consultants have produced a visual timeline of Ofcom’s proposals for the implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023.

Nicola Cain26 October 2023Online Safety, Online Harms, eSafety, ONLINE SAFETY BILL, Online Safety Act 2023, OFCOM, Online Safety Regulator, Online Harms Regulator, Roadmap to Regulation, User to User services, User-to-User Services, Search Services, Video Sharing Platforms, Pornographic Content ServicesComment

HM Coroner vs the Online Safety Bill

As the deadline approaches for the government and social media platforms to respond to HM Coroner’s recommendations in the Prevention of Future Deaths report following the Molly Russell inquest verdict, Handley Gill considers how the recommendations stack up against the provisions of the Online Safety Bill.

Nicola Cain29 November 2022Online Safety, Online Harms, ONLINE SAFETY BILL, Bill 285 2021-22, Bill 004 2022-23, Bill 121 2022-23, eSafety, Content Moderation, Intermediary Liability, Social Media, Molly Russell, Molly Russell Inquest, Regulation 28 Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013, Regulation 29 Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013, Schedule 5 paragraph 7 Coroners and Justice Act 2009, HM Coroner, Chief Coroner, Ofcom, Roadmap to Regulation, Online Safety Regulator, Online Harms Regulator, UK GDPR, UK General Data Protection Regulation, Data Protection Act 2018, DPA 2018, Age Verification, Children’s Risk Assessment, Safety duties protecting children, Harmful content, Primary priority content that is harmful to children, Self-Harm, Digital Regulation Co-operation Forum, DRCF, CMA, Competition & Markets Authority, Information Commissioner, ICO, FCA, Financial Conduct Authority, Advertising, Algorithm, Algorithmic Accountability, Algorithmic TransparencyComment

DCMS SoS?

Handley Gill considers the impact of the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, and Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for the Online Safety Bill and the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill.

Truss calls time for TikTok?

As Conservative Party Leadership Contest candidate Liz Truss threatened to crack down on ByteDance, the Chinese owner of social media platform TikTok, during the BBC’s News Special ‘Our Next Prime Minister’ on 25 July 2022, we explore how she might seek to do that under the National Security and Investment Act 2021, through amendments to the Online Safety Bill and/or Data Protection and Digital Information Bill and through the actions of regulators Ofcom and the Information Commissioner.

Nicola Cain26 July 2022Conservative Party, Conservative Party Leader, Prime Minister, Liz Truss, Nadine Dorries, Secretary of State for Digital Culture Media and Sport, Foreign Secretary, TikTok, ByteDance, China, Rishi Sunak, Faisal Islam, BBC, National Security and Investment Act 2021, The National Security and Investment Act 2021 (Notifiable Acquisition) (Specification of Qualifying Entities) Regulations 2021, Defamation, Absolute Privilege, ONLINE SAFETY BILL, Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, Data Protection & Digital Information Bill, DPDI Bill, OFCOM, Information Commissioner, Information Commissioner's Office, Information Commission, ICO25, Fit and Proper, Video on Demand, VOD, Video Streaming Sites, Video Sharing Platforms, VSPs, International data transfers, Data Localisation, Prior Consultation, Statement of Strategic Priorities, Kemi Badenoch, CONTENT REGULATION, Platform Regulation, Technology Regulation, USER GENERATED CONTENT, UGCComment

Is the Online Safety Bill safe?

Conclusion of the Report stage of the Online Safety Bill in the House of Commons, which was scheduled for 20 July, has now been postponed until after the summer recess. Responding to the news, Conservative Party leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch described the Bill as being “in no fit state to become law”, raising the prospect that the Online Safety Bill may become safer, but for whom?