As Parliament and politics resume following the death of HM Queen – and Liz Truss’s focus returns to her in-tray – we now await signals as to what form the “tweaking” of the Online Safety Bill that she promised at her first PMQs will take.

Meanwhile, this bumper edition rounds up the rest of the commentary on the Bill and the wider online harms news over the summer break. One of the most significant developments in this period has been the passing into law of the Californian Age-Appropriate Design Code, modelled on the UK’s version and testament to the influence and commitment to children’s digital rights, on both sides of the Atlantic, of Baroness Beeban Kidron; read more on this below. And we can’t fail to mention the publication of an excellent new book from Glitch CEO, Seyi Akiwowo: How to Stay Safe Online.

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• With the pausing of the Online Safety Bill just before summer recess – and before it had completed its Commons Report stages – much of the commentary since late July had either been focused on the need for it to be brought back quickly, or for the new Prime Minister to revisit and revise it.
• At her first PMQs, Liz Truss confirmed - in response to a question from Sir Jeremy Wright MP - that she would be “proceeding” with the OSB: “There are some issues that we need to deal with. What I want to make sure is that we protect the under-18s from harm and that we also make sure free speech is allowed, so there may be some tweaks required”. Following the extensive reshuffle carried out by the new Prime Minister, that “tweaking” will be led by the new DCMS Secretary of State – Michelle Donelan – and Damian Collins, who retains his role as Tech and Digital Minister. On the first day of the inquest into the death of Molly Russell (see below), Donelan was out and about doing the morning media round for the first time in her new role, referring to “edits” to the Bill with regard to “legal but harmful” but committing to retaining the protections for children and bringing it back “asap”.
• Over the summer, DCMS published a factsheet on the changes to the illegal content duties introduced at report stage (NC 14); you can read the response from Public Technology here and detailed analysis in Graham Smith’s most recent blog (“Platforms adjudging illegality – the Online Safety Bill’s inference engine”).
• Meanwhile, Collins continued to push on the OSB over recess, despite the pause and the distractions of the Conservative leadership contest, meeting TikTok, representatives of footballers and attending the G20 Digital Ministers meeting in Bali.

• Here’s a reminder of where the OSB had got to at the end of Committee stage and the transcript from the first day of Report stage. Meanwhile, the Second Reading of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, due to take place on Monday 5 September, was postponed with the new timescale as yet unclear; and one of the first decisions of the new Truss Cabinet was to scrap the British Bill of Rights (see here for EVAW’s recent report on how the proposed Bill would harm women).

• Reactions to the “pause” before the OSB completed its Commons Stages have been divided: the IET set out how this “puts us all at risk”; a victim of grooming wrote for the House magazine on why the legislation was vital; the father of Olly Stephens, whose murder has been heavily linked to social media, expressed his anger at the OSB delay; and the NSPCC’s Hannah Ruschen has been speaking to the Media Law Podcast  about what this means for children. On the opposite side of the fence, many of the Bill’s opponents called for a radical rethink: Matthew Lesh from the IEA wrote for the Telegraph about how “tweaking” isn’t good enough, the OSB needs “a fundamental overhaul”, a conclusion that the BCS also came to, following a poll of its members; in an article for the Spectator, Lord Sumption argued that the duty placed on social media companies to impose an “opaque and intrusive culture of self-censorship" will have the same effect as if the Bill explicitly sought to limit free speech. In a blog looking ahead to the Truss Premiership, the ORG contrasted her apparent commitment to revise the “legal but harmful” provisions in the Bill to better protect free speech for adults with her backing for the British Bill of Rights, which would bring in more restrictions on free expression.
• Newspapers’ leader writers and commentators have been similarly divided: the Guardian’s Simon Jenkins argued that the OSB was necessary to help preserve free speech; while the Times, in a recent editorial, argued the opposite and called for a complete overhaul of the Bill. The Financial Times have released an opinion piece on the OSB and scams.
• Finally, CCDH have been publishing a series of blogs in recent weeks on various aspects of the OSB: what it does and how it tackles racist hate, online misogyny, health misinformation and protects for children.

• DCMS has released a report on the UK’s online safety tech sector in 2022, accompanied by results of research by IPSOS-Mori on the importance of trust and safety in the digital economy.
• The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) recently marked the anniversary of its children’s code, and signalled a need to extend this to regulate adult-only content, if accessed by children.
• Baroness Findlay’s Suicide and Self-Harm Bill had its second reading on 9 September postponed; this HOL library briefing paper sets out what it aims to do.

• The Supreme Court will not hear RT’s appeal against Ofcom’s impartiality findings; the ICO has published guidance on privacy-enhancing technologies.
• News from the platforms: WhatsApp has announced new privacy features for users (and its CEO in late July insisted the company would not weaken encryption, regardless of the OSB) while parent company Meta also tests end-to-end encryption for Facebook Messenger, in a move criticised by child safety campaigners and DCMS Minister Damian Collins. Instagram has disputed claims that its ‘precise location’ function shows the users’ exact location, breaching their privacy and safety; it has also removed Pornhub from its platform.  SnapChat now allows parents to see who their children are talking to on the platform. Tiktok has set out how they are strengthening their commitment to transparency and how they plan to fight misinformation in the US Midterm elections. Twitter is trialling a new function to allow users to edit tweets for up to 30 minutes after posting while also dealing with the revelations from whistleblower Peiter Zatko, who leaked a series of documents to the Washington Post alleging Twitter’s deficiencies in protecting its users from hackers and spam; and the ongoing Elon Musk drama continues to rumble on, with the Verge reporting that it has had an impact on the platform’s “ambitious plans” to tackle extremism.
• Meta has not yet published its Oversight Board reviews (for example, re Palestine) nor its India Human Rights Impact Assessment, bringing criticism from Access Now and others. Meanwhile, in the BBC’s trial of Meta’s new chatbot, its answers were bluntly critical of the platform itself.
• In metaverse news, Public have published a blog on gaming in the metaverse; meanwhile, the Digital Futures Commission, convened by 5 Rights Foundation, have published a blog on kids and the metaverse and IAPP cover data protection issues and the metaverse. In the US, the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) has issued guidance on how their guidelines for advertisers apply to the metaverse.

• UNICEF have released a report on the impact of cyber warfare on children, including a section on the types of harms this causes to children; and the IWF data from the first half of 2022 shows almost 20,000 webpages of child sexual abuse imagery during this time included ‘self-generated’ content of 7- to 10-year-old children. Forbes has reported on its investigation into how TikTok moderators are being trained using graphic CSAEM material; and a Canadian report has recently documented the increase in CSAEM online.
• The inquest into the suicide of Molly Russell is set to hear evidence from senior employees at Pinterest and Meta, to determine whether the platforms’ algorithms contributed to her death.
• ICYMI, the Telegraph ran a profile of film maker turned child safety campaigner and legislator Baroness Kidron; and the former UK Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham has co-authored a piece with another ex-ICO colleague, Steve Wood, on children’s data privacy and online gaming.

• Facebook and Instagram have suspended Robert Kennedy Jr’s anti-vax groups from their platforms; Twitter and Meta have taken down pro-US propaganda campaign; and Meta’s Board is now considering to what extent it will relax restrictions on COVID-19 misinformation, after a recent history of banning this kind of content. A BBC investigation has revealed that Facebook groups are disguising anti-vax content by using a carrot emoji; Adobe has recently published a report on emoji use, in the US.
• Academic experts from the University of America and Stanford University have published their analysis of the consistency of Facebook and Twitter in labelling misleading content during the 2020 presidential election.

• The CMA have launched a Phase 2 in-depth investigation into Microsoft’s merger deal with Activision Blizzard, which owns many of the best-selling and most notable game franchises.

• Ofcom recently published “Crossing the Line”, a report detailing the extent of Twitter abuse received by Premier League footballers; you can watch the highlights of the panel discussion, featuring Gary Linker, at the Ofcom launch event here and listen to the accompanying edition of their Life Online Podcast on the same theme.
• A new report by the Global Network on Extremism and Technology has examined white supremacist and militant accelerationism trends on TikTok; meanwhile a new report by CCDH and the Human Rights Campaign has examined the role of social media in the amplification of digital hate against the LGBTQ+ community; and a significant report from botsentinel on hate speech violations at YouTube stated that it “incentivises its creators to publish content which often violates their policies”.
• A campaign led by Hope Not Hate for action to remove the misogynistic content creator Andrew Tate from the social media platforms has been successful, with his removal from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok; here’s The Guardian review of his rise to prominence and Hope Not Hate’s briefing paper. The Guardian recently also reported on its investigation into how an insidious “far-right ecosystem” is targeting children in an attempt to radicalise them online. Meanwhile, watch out for the upcoming ITV five-part drama series based on Hope Not Hate’s work.
• A recent Panorama edition investigated the illegal trading of women’s intimate photos/videos on Reddit while Emily Atack has announced that she is filming a documentary on online sexual abuse; a recent event at Wilton Park considered gender-based harassment and abuse, with a paper on its findings to follow; and, finally, don’t miss the excellent new book from Glitch CEO, Seyi Akiwowo: How to Stay Safe Online.

• In Europe, the EU has announced a programme of work on virtual worlds and the metaverse and published a Cyber Security Act; and the Spanish government is banning loot boxes in games for children: here's Osborne Clark's summary. Instagram has been fined by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner for breaching children’s data privacy rights; here’s the Irish DPC’s judgement and the EDPB’s decision. The Irish DPA has notified another decision on children’s data to the EDPB, this time on TikTok.
• In the US, California lawmakers have passed landmark legislation for the protection of children online, modelled on the UK’s Age-Appropriate Design Code, requiring digital platforms to vet functions on whether they pose harm to children before being rolled out, and ensuring privacy guardrails are offered to children by default. The Code was signed by the Governor last week and Baroness Beeban Kidron, whose work has been instrumental in this milestone, said: “I am absolutely delighted that lawmakers have chosen to emulate the provisions of the UK’s Age-Appropriate Design Code in the State of California, home of Silicon Valley.  The UK code brought forward an unprecedented scale of innovation focused on children’s safety and privacy.  To see that replicated for California children is a tremendous step forward.  It is incumbent on the sector to put their unrivalled creativity and imagination at the service of the California AADC - and play their part in building the digital world children deserve." Also in California, a Bill has been signed requiring more transparency from social media companies.
• Also in the US, following a meeting with civil society campaigners and academics, the White House has published six principles for tech regulation; the Federal Trade Commission have published an ANPR (Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking), requesting public comment for proposed standards and requirements related to commercial surveillance in the digital economy and the harms to users this can cause; a product liability case has been brought against Omegle, a video-chat platform criticised for pairing children with random strangers, with the state court indicating that there is a case to answer; US federal cyberstalking legislation has been challenged by reference to the first amendment; a case has been brought against Meta in Washington State for non-compliance with state political finance transparency laws; and the Bipartisan Policy Centre has published analysis on what social media companies can do to better protect elections. The European Commission has opened an office in San Francisco and the various other legislative moves to rein in social media in the US have been helpfully summarised in this Politico overview.
• Elsewhere, New Zealand has published its Code of Practice for Online Safety and Harms which Meta, Alphabet, Amazon and Twitter have signed up to; Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Information has launched a public consultation into its newly released online harms code; and a group of international civil society organisations have written to the major platforms ahead of the Brazilian elections on 2 October.

• ICO call for views on its ICO25 plan – deadline 22 September

• The future of tech regulation and the metaverse: outlook from the US – Global Counsel webinar – 21 September
• Data Protection and Digital Information Bill – Connected by Data workshop – 29 September
• Powering the Good Web – Demos @ Conservative conference – 3 October
• Digital Families Conference – Parentzone – 18 October
• Online Safety Bill briefing – The House – 20 October
• Regulating the metaverse – Global Counsel - 25 October
• UK internet Governance Forum 2022 – 1 November

• 21 September – Commons returns.
• 23 September – Commons rises for recess.
• 10 October – Lords returns.
• 11 October – Commons returns.