In the past fortnight, Parliamentary scrutiny sessions have continued and progress through the Bill has been rapid, but with few surprises in relation to the Government’s position on amendments. In the next few weeks, we’re looking forward (potentially) to seeing the much-trailed “roadmap” from Ofcom, setting out the details and timescales for the various publications they will provide prior to the Bill’s implementation. Looking ahead, the ramifications from the Government’s by-election losses may have implications for the next stage of Parliamentary business. 

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• The Public Bill Committee proceedings have continued along the same lines as the opening sessions: substantive debates have taken place on the extent of Secretary of State powers in the Bill and the impact on the independence of Ofcom; disinformation; priority harms to adults, and whether the Government is going to publish a list of these; journalism exemptions; categorisation of services; enforcement and transparency reporting; porn and cyberflashing, including this unexpected exchange; and the inclusion of self-harm and violence against women and girls. 

• The Opposition has been well prepared and has provided robust reasoning for their interventions on most of the substantive sections of the Bill. But – even where the Digital Minister, Chris Philp, is in agreement with the substance of their concerns and reassurances are given - no amendments have been accepted. It is notable that on the only occasion the Government has conceded – on the commitment to include a new offence of maliciously targeting people with epilepsy, or “Zach’s Law” - this was due to coordinated cross-party lobbying, both inside and outside the Committee. Conservative Committee member Caroline Ansell spoke in favour of the amendment from Labour’s Kim Leadbeater (in whose constituency Zach lives) but – when Philp refused to accept the amendment as tabled - did not go so far as to vote with the Opposition.  

• Away from the Public Bill Committee, the answer to a Lords PQ from DCMS Minister Lord Parkinson suggested that a list of priority harms to adults will not be forthcoming anytime soon, which is at odds with reassurances given by Philp in Committee on 14th June that “we have heard the calls to publish the list so that parliamentarians can scrutinise it, and we also heard them on Second Reading” - and that “more news might be forthcoming as the Bill proceeds through Parliament.” 

• The Women and Equalities Committee has continued its hearings on Pornography and its Impact on Women and Girls, including taking evidence from the Home Office and DCMS Ministers and officials. Meanwhile, evidence from Prof Lorna Woods and Prof Clare McGlynn on pornography regulation to the Online Safety Bill committee has been published. 

• Clean Up the Internet have published a review of the first few weeks of Committee Stage. This excellent piece on the Bill's "Legal but Harmful" provisions and freedom of speech, by Antisemitism Policy Trust's Danny Stone, is well worth your time.   

• Demos has led the publication of a joint civil society briefing which sets out amendments, and the rationale behind them, to strengthen provisions on anonymity and privacy in the Bill.  

• Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s Chief Executive, has given an interview to Bloomberg on the Bill, which covers her own experience of receiving online abuse and flags an upcoming visit to US tech execs. In light of the Committee’s discussions on Secretary of State powers, this comment is telling: “We’re always acting independently,” Dawes said, refusing to comment on any political specifics. “But of course it’s the case a lot of what we do is politically very interesting.” 

• The Committee must conclude its line-by-line scrutiny by Thursday 30th June, though it is very likely that the session on Tuesday 28th will be the last. Report stage could then come as early as w/c 11th July with Third Reading before summer recess.  

• In the Committee debates of the past few weeks, Philp has signalled that the Government will bring forward its own amendments in a few (limited) areas or has given reassurances that the particular issue argued for by the Opposition Committee members will be – or has already been – covered by other policy commitments. Carnegie UK will shortly publish a review of these commitments and what this might mean for Report stage. 

• It is difficult to judge whether any of the proposed (but rejected) areas for amendments will have more success at Report stage. The Committee Chair confirmed in the hearing on 16th June that procedures had changed in recent times, allowing amendments to be resubmitted at Report even if they were rejected in Committee. The Parliamentary dynamics are such that retabled amendments are only likely to achieve success if the Government concedes to a cross-party campaign on a particular issue and brings forward its own amendment, rather than through a vote on an Opposition amendment in the Commons, where a significant number of Conservative backbenchers would be required to rebel against the Government for it to succeed.

• You can read our response to the Online Advertising Programme consultation here. 
• The Lords Fraud Act Committee has continued to hear evidence, including from National Economic Crime Centre and the National Crime Agency. 
• Ofcom continues to recruit to its online safety team: details on a Policy Associate job available in their sexual harms team here (deadline 9^th July).

• The CMA’s final market study report on mobile ecosystems has concluded "that Apple and Google’s duopoly means they have a stranglehold over these key gateways” with a potential impact on lack of choice, innovation and excessive pricing. The report concluded that "there are no easy or quick fixes. A new ex ante regulatory approach is required to oversee powerful tech firms like these and support the UK’s innovative tech sector. We welcome the government’s commitment to establish a new regime with tailored powers to tackle these problems." Meanwhile, the Competition Appeal Tribunal has upheld the CMA's approach re Meta’s acquisition of Giphy, dismissing all but one of Meta’s appeal grounds (which was about procedure); here‘s Privacy International's take on the matter. The case is important for a number of reasons, not least the fact that the CAT re-affirmed that the CMA could require divestiture of Giphy. 

• The ASA has published a statement outlining the recent work it has undertaken on tackling climate change, and has also announced a pilot programme on “Intermediary and Platform Principles”. 

• The Treasury has agreed that the ICO are now able to retain some of the funds paid as a result of civil monetary penalties. 

• The Metaverse Standards Forum, coordinated by Khronos Group (which includes many of the major platforms), has launched work to assist in the development of Metaverse standards; the launch was covered here and here.  

• News from the platforms: Microsoft retires web browser Internet explorer; Instagram has launched new parental controls in the UK and new age verification measures, in partnership with Yoti; YouTube has been accused of not tackling Musk Bitcoin scam streams while its TikTok rival Shorts has reached 1.5 billion users; Meta has settled a case on ad discrimination and its Oversight Board’s annual report reveals it has had over one million appeals in its first year of operation.  

• Children and young people: the Washington Post has published its investigation on the scale of apps tracking kids online; and Revealing Reality has published its latest research, focusing on young people and nude-image sharing online, which was discussed on Woman’s Hour. Meanwhile, researchers in New Zealand have found an increase in unsolicited explicit photos being sent to young girls. 

• Misinformation and disinformation:  results from the recent Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022 include, among many news-focused issues, the role of misinformation, finding a link between online misinformation fears and the widespread use of social media. 

• Online hate, abuse and intimidation: A Panorama documentary has been aired investigating the role of social media in the murder of teenager Olly Stephens. Global Witness have published results of their investigation with Foxglove and Dagim Afework Mekonnen on the prevalence of hate speech on Facebook in Ethiopia and have called on Facebook to “assess, mitigate and publish the risks that their services impact on people’s human rights and other societal level harms in all countries in which they operate”. An NYU Stern report has focused on the role of YouTube in facilitating the spread of hate speech, noting a lack of transparency about how the platform operates as a key issue and recommending to the platform that they disclose “the criteria algorithms use to rank, recommend, and remove content—as well as how the criteria are weighted relative to one another.” 

• Privacy and data rights:  Academic Jennifer Petersen has authored an article analysing interpretations of speech in law, exploring whether and how recommender algorithms can be considered speech. 

• In Europe, the text of the provisional agreement on the Digital Services Act has now been published.  A strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation has been issued by the European Commission, but concerns have been raised that relatively new platforms may avoid the new rulebook. In response to a European Commission anti-trust investigation, Alphabet (parent company to Google) has changed its advertising position to allow competitors to place ads on YouTube. The French competition regulator has accepted commitments from Meta after the authority's investigation found that certain practices could affect conditions for competition. 

• In the US, the White House launched a taskforce on gender-based online abuse and harassment, Will Perrin has produced a summary thread and Panopticon have published commentary on how the US approach differs from the OSB. Staying in the States, Wired have produced an overview of current laws in development in US around addictive practice utilised by social media.  

• The Canadian Centre for Child Protection has unveiled the Unwanted Film Fest, using AI to generate 85 million movie posters to represent the amount of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) that was reported in 2021. Titles were taken from survivor accounts of how this material has profoundly affected all aspects of their lives. C3P is urging the public to sign the petition to demand tech companies stop the upload of known CSAM. 

• Nigeria’s internet regulator has released a draft code of practice for “interactive computer service platforms/internet intermediaries”, see an overview from TechCrunch here. 

• Following their participation at RightsCon, five UN Special rapporteurs have issued a joint statement on the impact of technology on human rights, emphasising the role of digital rights violations in escalating violence and deepening conflicts. 

• Ofcom has a consultation on its regulatory enforcement guidelines – deadline 19 July.
• The UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues has a consultation on his hate speech guidelines which runs until the end of the year.

• DCMS call for views on app security and privacy interventions – deadline 29 June.
• Public Bill Committee open to submissions on the Online Safety Bill  – deadline 30 June.
• Department of Health and Social Care call for evidence for its new 10-year plan to improve mental health – deadline 5 July.

• Terrorism and Social Media Conference – Swansea University – 28-29 June.
• Oxford Media Convention – IPPR – 13 July.
• Next Steps for Online Safety – Westminster eForum – 12 September. 

• Dates of Online Safety Public Bill Committee:
  • Tuesday 28 June
  • Thursday 30 June [though its line-by-line scrutiny is likely to have finished by 28th] 
• 29 June  – Link between advertising, body image and mental health – Lords question tabled by Lord Bishop of Gloucester. 
• 7 July  – DCMS questions.