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The UK's Online Safety Bill: The day we took a stand against serious online harms or the day we lost our freedoms to platforms and the state?

Author

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  • Dittel, Alexander

    (Wedlake Bell, UK)

Abstract

This paper discusses the UK's Online Safety Bill, which is intended to protect vulnerable individuals online, although at the risk of promoting surveillance techniques and mandating proactive content removal by platforms. It analyses how the Bill, a very ambitious project, tries to safeguard vulnerable people through means which could be easily abused, and asks whether the risk of abuse that could affect everyone is worth the protection of a minority of online users. Recently demonstrated authoritarian approaches to solving the COVID-19 crisis make this concern palpable. The paper concludes by saying that once we take a path, it will be difficult to walk it back.

Suggested Citation

  • Dittel, Alexander, 2022. "The UK's Online Safety Bill: The day we took a stand against serious online harms or the day we lost our freedoms to platforms and the state?," Journal of Data Protection & Privacy, Henry Stewart Publications, vol. 5(2), pages 183-194, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:aza:jdpp00:y:2022:v:5:i:2:p:183-194
    as

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    online harms; Online Safety Bill; lawful but harmful; user-generated content; content monitoring; user; monitoring; cyber offences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K2 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law

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