Welcome to the first Online Harms update from the Carnegie UK Trust, where we bring together the latest news, research and developments relating to Online Harms policy in the UK and further afield to help campaigners, advocates and policy folk stay connected.
Parliament has returned and Brexit may be dominating the political agenda once more, but the next couple of months should also see the Government’s full response to the Online Harms White Paper and a confirmed timescale for the introduction of the long-awaited Online Harms Bill. There’s no shortage of evidence for urgent action. In the past fortnight alone, we’ve seen new reports from the NSPCC, the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and Glitch illustrating how harms online have increased during the COVID-19 period, while the Health Secretary has been put under pressure in Parliament on plans to combat anti-vaccine campaigns online.
In the next few weeks, we should see a new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on digital regulation – set up by Jeremy Wright MP and Baroness Kidron – up and running, while the clock is ticking on formal responses from the Government to two recent Select Committee reports on online harms and, potentially, the publication of the Government’s full response to the White Paper. (For a refresher, you can find the interim response here.)
Do contact us at info@carnegieuk.org with any news on your work or upcoming events that you’d like to share in our next edition – and please feel free to give us feedback on this one! If you’ve found it useful, help our network continue to grow by sharing this newsletter with your colleagues and contacts, who can sign up here to receive it direct.
What’s been happening?
The road to regulation
ICYMI, Heidi Tworek’s op-ed on the potentially fraught context of aiming to land UK Online Harms regulation while also conducting UK-US Trade Talks is a helpful introduction to the subject.
Dr Luke Evans MP will lead a 10 Minute Rule Bill debate on 15th September to seek agreement to the introduction of a Bill to “require advertisers, broadcasters and publishers to display a logo in cases where an image of a human body or body part has been digitally altered in its proportions; and for connected purposes”. More details on the proposal, supported by the Girl Guides, here.
Systems, design and governance
Professor Lorna Woods and William Perrin have published a paper, to support the ongoing development of our work at the Carnegie UK Trust on a statutory duty of care, on how designing a system of “regulatory interlock” into the Online Harms regime would enable Ofcom to take action on online harms identified by regulators in different sectors.
Children and young people
The NSPCC’s latest figures show a 16% increase in online child sex crimes between April 2019 and April 2020, with cases going above 10,000 for the first time.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has implemented the “Children’s Code”, formerly known as the Age Appropriate Design Code, which puts new regulatory requirements on organisations to design their online services in a way that protects children’s data.
Continuing the theme and their influential work in this area, 5 Rights have launched their Risky by Design microsite, illustrating ways in which the design of online services aimed at children influences what they do, see and create online.
The Advertising Standards Authority has compiled a report documenting the extent which rules on age-restricted advertising are breached online, on platforms or websites aimed at children, quarterly updates will follow.
Misinformation and disinformation
Ofcom’s latest COVID-19 news and information: consumption and attitudes figures (published 18 August 2020; the survey has now switched to a monthly publication) show a continuation in the decline in the number of people saying they have come across false or misleading information about COVID-19 on social media - down from 46% in week 1 (27-29 March) to 27% in week 20 (7-9 August).
Failure to Act, the latest report from the Centre for Countering Digital Hate – in conjunction with Restless Development – documents the failure by tech companies to act on reports on anti-vaxx disinformation online, with fewer than 1 in 20 posts in their study being dealt with.
The BBC’s anti-disinformation reporting team has been looking at the merging of QAnon conspiracy theories with anti-vaxx campaigners, which are spilling over into public protests.
Meanwhile, the Health Secretary suggested – in response to a question from Chris Elmore MP – that the Government was already involved in a “campaign” against anti-vaxxers online and that “his former coalition ministerial partner” Sir Nick Clegg, “absolutely understands” the importance of the issue at Facebook, which has been doing “significant work”. (Hansard 02/09/2020)
Consumer harms and scams
The US Federal Trade Commission has published a “perspective paper” summarising findings from a workshop on the consumer protection issues arising from video game loot boxes.
Online abuse, harassment and intimidation
Glitch, in conjunction with End Violence Against Women and Girls, has published an extensive report showing how the scale and impact of online abuse on women and minority groups has increased during the lockdown period.
No fewer than 20 State Attorney Generals have written to Mark Zuckerberg urging Facebook to take more action to combat hate speech and online abuse.
European and international developments
The European Commission’s consultation on its Digital Services Act package closed last week. Google and Mozilla have been amongst the first to share their thoughts publicly. Expect more company submissions to follow those into the public domain in the coming weeks; meanwhile, the UN Commissioner on Human Rights has written to Ursula Von Der Leyen on the topic.
Get involved
Consultations and inquiries
The Labour Party has launched a consultation on “Our Digital Future”: deadline 2nd October.
Cabinet Office has launched a consultation on Digital Imprints: deadline 14th November.
DCMS has launched a consultation on the long-awaited National Data Strategy, which includes an announcement of £2.6m investment in a pilot “online harms data infrastructure project”: deadline 2nd December.
The Law Commission has published a consultation on reform of the Communications Offences, in order to “protect victims from harmful online behaviour, including abusive messages, cyber-flashing, pile-on harassment and the malicious sharing of information known to be false”: deadline 18th December.
LAST CHANCE
Ofcom’s call for evidence on regulation of video-sharing platforms ends 24th September.
Forum on Internet and Democracy call for contributions on action to halt the spread of “infodemics” ends 30th September.
Campaign updates
Campaign Against Anti-Semitism has launched a petition calling for the Government to bring forward the Online Harms Bill by the end of 2020 and into law by July 2021.
The Centenary Action Group has written to the DCMS Secretary of State to call for an end to online abuse and for 10% of the digital services tax to be ringfenced to fund civil society organisations working in this area.
Upcoming events
UK Internet Governance Forum: 15-17th September 2020 – register here
The 75th UN General Assembly includes a programme of events on “Digital Co-operation”: more details here.
Westminster watch
15th September – 10 Minute Rule Bill (Dr Luke Evans MP) is debated (see above).
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