Rishi Sunak Caves In To Tory Rebels Over Online Harms Bill In Latest Climbdown

Rishi Sunak has performed yet another U-turn after he caved in to Tory rebels over the government’s online harms bill.

The prime minister has agreed that social media bosses could face jail over harmful content posted on their platforms after more than 50 Conservative backbenchers backed an amendment demanding the change.

The government had been concerned that the move would put tech firms off investing in the UK.

But Sunak was facing an embarrassing Commons defeat over the issue if he had not shifted his position.

Following talks with culture secretary Michelle Donelan, the rebels dropped the amendment, which will be brought back in the House of Lords “in a more workable format” by the government.

It is the third time the PM has been forced into a humiliating climbdown in the face of pressure from his own MPs.

He has already ditched plans to make it easier to build new homes and dropped his opposition to new onshore wind farms.

Ian Russell, the father of schoolgirl Molly Russell, who killed herself after viewing harmful material on social media, said the threat of imprisonment is “the only thing” that will make the bosses “put safety near the top of their agenda”.

“I think that’s a really important thing in terms of changing the corporate culture at these platforms,” he told BBC’s Newsnight.

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Rishi Sunak Facing Major Tory Rebellion Over Online Safety Bill

Rishi Sunak is facing a fresh Tory backbench rebellion over a law aimed at protecting children when they use the internet.

Nearly 40 Conservative MPs – including former cabinet ministers – have signed an amendment to the online safety bill which could see social media bosses jailed if their platforms publish harmful content.

The prime minister has already been forced to perform embarrassing U-turns over housebuilding targets and new onshore wind farms in the face of rebellions by Tory MPs.

Among the 36 Conservatives backing the rebel amendment are former party leader Iain Duncan Smith and Andrea Leadsom.

With Labour also backing it, Sunak is heading for his first parliamentary defeat as PM unless the government changes its position.

Culture secretary Michelle Donelan hinted that the government was preparing for a climbdown.

Speaking to the BBC’s Newscast podcast, she said: “I’m not ruling out any of those amendments because I’ve been working through them and they’ve been coming in today as well, looking at, you know, what colleagues are putting forward.

“I’m somebody that always takes a sensible approach to these things. If people have good ideas, just because I didn’t think of them, doesn’t mean that we’re not going to do them.”

Ian Russell and Ruth Moss, parents of children who killed themselves after viewing harmful content online, are among those campaigning for the government to accept the proposed change.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “Our aim is to hold to account social media platforms for harmful content while also ensuring the UK remains a great place to invest and grow a tech business.

“We are confident we can achieve both of these things.

“We will carefully consider all the proposed amendments to the online safety bill and set out its position when report stage continues.”

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New Internet Laws To Crackdown On Tech Bosses

Tech bosses will face large fines if they fail to comply with new internet laws under government plans strengthening its long-awaited online safety bill.

The proposed legislation, which has been in progress for around five years and is to be brought before parliament on Thursday, will crack down on social media platforms exposing users to harmful content.

Ofcom, the new regulator for the sector, will have the power to fine companies or block access to sites that fail to comply with the new rules.

Among a series of updates, company executives will be criminally liable if they fail to comply with information requests just two months after the bill becomes law, rather than the two years previously drafted.

Destroying evidence, providing false information in interviews and obstructing the regulator when it enters company offices will also be punished.

Under the updated bill, the biggest social media platforms must also tackle so-called “legal but harmful” content.

But what is deemed “legal but harmful” will now be set out in secondary legislation approved by parliament, which the government says will prevent social media executives determining what appears.

Other updates include a new requirement to report child sexual abuse to the National Crime Agency.

The government has also said news content will be exempt from any of the regulations as part of efforts to protect free speech.

“The internet has transformed our lives for the better. It’s connected us and empowered us. But on the other side, tech firms haven’t been held to account when harm, abuse and criminal behaviour have run riot on their platforms,” culture secretary Nadine Dorries said.

The changes come after MPs, peers and campaigners warned the initial proposals failed to offer the expected user protection.

That has since sparked a number of other recently announced changes to the draft bill, including bringing paid-for scam adverts into scope, requiring sites that host pornography to ensure their users are 18 or over and criminalising cyberflashing.

Damian Collins, chair of the joint committee on the draft online safety bill, which scrutinised the previous version of the proposed rules, said it was a “huge moment for the safety of all internet users”.

“The UK is leading the world with legislation to finally hold social media companies for the offences that take place on their platforms, like hate speech, fraud, terrorism, and child abuse,” he said.

However, some campaigners have expressed concerns about the ongoing use of the phrase “legal but harmful” and the impact it could have on free speech.

Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, said using the term amounted to the creation of a “censor’s charter”.

“Unbelievably while acknowledging the sheer amount of power (Facebook executive) Nick Clegg and other Silicon Valley bigwigs already have over what we can say online, Nadine Dorries has created a bill that will grant them even more,” he said.

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