Britain will not force tech giants to remove content that is “legal but harmful” from their platforms after campaigners and lawmakers raised concerns that the move could curtail free speech, the government said.
Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan said rather than watering down the bill, she had strengthened protection for children by making companies enforce the age limits they had already set. Britain had previously said social media companies could be fined if they failed to stamp out harmful content such as abuse even if it fell below the criminal threshold, while senior managers could have also faced criminal action.
The new iteration goes further to protect free speech by stopping companies, such as Facebook-owner Meta and Twitter, removing content or suspending or banning users where there is no breach of their terms of service or the law. The government, however, said the bill, which returns to parliament next month, put the onus on tech companies to take down material that was illegal or was in breach of their own terms of service.
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