The British Parliament has just adopted an online safety law. A measure which aims to protect Internet users, and more particularly children.
Securing the digital space: this is the main objective targeted by the United Kingdom thanks to this brand new law, called the Online Safety Bill. It had been in the drawers for four years already, and had been in the adoption phase since the start of the school year. The country will now impose very rigorous rules for online platforms to protect users – particularly minors – and provides significant sanctions for companies and managers who try not to respect them. A political strategy reminiscent of the French SREN bill, proposed to reduce anonymity online and protect younger Internet users.
Drastic measures for a safer web
This new law will be synonymous with a real digital fight against all morally or legally harmful online content. Therefore, all platforms will be required to remove content concerning extreme sexual violence, sexual abuse of minors or behavior resembling coercion. All themes inherent to the promotion of suicide, self-mutilation, human trafficking or cruelty towards animals are also targeted.
Particular emphasis was placed on “cyber-flashing” (unsolicited sending of sexual images from one person to another) or the use of deepfake to distribute falsified pornographic content. From now on, parents will have free access to information concerning their children held by the platforms if the situation requires it: harassment or suicide for example.
Regulate and sanction
For these rules to be properly applied, we must hit where it is the most painful for companies: the wallet. It is Ofcom (the British communications regulator) which will have the stick in hand to enforce these rules. If any platform does not comply with the regulations, the penalties provided for are rather heavy: up to 10% of global turnover. In the most extreme cases, it is the directors or senior managers of companies who will be targeted and punished with prison sentences.
This decision will not have failed to provoke a reaction from certain giants in the industry. Signal, IMessage or WhatsApp could very well reconsider their operation in the United Kingdom. They who had made encryption their warhorse, this new law has turned everything upside down. ProtonMail already has the idea of contesting these new legal provisions to guarantee that its users maintain their anonymity.
This article is originally published on clubic.com