Opposing the UK’s new online safety law doesn’t put me on the side of predators

Have you been asked for your ID to access a website recently? If you’re in the UK, that might have happened because of the recent Online Safety Act, a landmark piece of legislation that came into effect in late July. It requires social media sites and other internet platforms to implement safety measures – designed to stop children seeing inappropriate content – or face large fines. Subscribe to The Guardian on YouTube ► http://bit.ly/subscribegdn “Very few people would dispute the goals behind the Online Safety Act: to try and protect children from seeing content that they ought not to,” says technology journalist Chris Stokel-Walker. Under the act, social media platforms and large search engines must prevent children accessing pornography and material that promotes or encourages suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. This content must be kept off children’s feeds entirely. However, campaigners fear that the broad strokes of the bill could silence vulnerable communities, stifle political speech and create massive new databases of personal data. Criticism of the bill has become "intensely politicised”, say Stokel-Walker. Donald Trump’s allies have dubbed it the “UK’s online censorship law”, and the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, added fuel to the fire by claiming that Nigel Farage’s opposition to the act put him “on the side” of the notorious sex offender Jimmy Savile. But, “we should consider it less as a culture wars issue and more as a civil liberties issue”, says Stokel-Walker. Watch this video to learn more. Want to read in-depth about another perspective? Find out what the right – and left – is getting wrong about the Online Safety Act, according to someone who helped draft Ofcom’s regulatory guidance, by clicking the link ► https://ift.tt/zHQ9MsY #onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #onlinecensorship #theinternet #uk #politics #inappropriate