The Online Harms White Paper: what you need to know
This extract is taken from the February 2019 issue of The digest, GPD’s monthly newsletter. Sign up here.
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The UK government’s long awaited Online Harms White Paper is…still not here.
But when it comes (any day now, we promise) it’s likely to be significant, not just in the UK, but around the world. Because where one country goes on online content regulation, others are likely to follow.
The minister in charge of the White Paper has just trailed some of the likely proposals – but the full picture is as yet unclear. In anticipation of its arrival, here’s what you need to get up to speed:
- Our blog series looking at the human rights impacts of what’s likely to be in the White Paper – which includes a code of practice, a statutory duty of care, a regulatory body, and transparency reporting requirements.
- Some industry perspectives on online content regulation: a joint letter from the tech giants (including Facebook, Google and Twitter); Google Senior Vice President of Global Affairs Kent Walker on the four principles which should underpin any regulation of unlawful content; and some more principlesfrom the CEO of techUK, Antony Walker.
Our briefing to the UK government on what should be included in the Online Harms White Paper (drawing on our own proposal for a rights-respecting model of online content regulation by platforms).