Welcome to the latest Carnegie UK Trust Online Harms update, 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.
In the past fortnight, we’ve seen a major milestone for children’s online lives with the launch of the UN CRC’s General Comment on the Rights of the Child in a digital environment, new reports from Which? on investment scams and the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute on the impact of online fraud on vulnerable people while, at Carnegie UK, we’ve published a new blog post setting out how to tackle electoral harms. In Parliament, two debates have focused on the impact of online anonymity.
We’re taking a break for a few weeks and will be back with the latest news in your inboxes in w/c 26th April; in the meantime, don’t miss Prof Lorna Woods’ appearance in front of the Lords Communications and Digital Committee giving evidence on online freedom of expression on 14th April.
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
*New from Carnegie UK Trust*: a new blog post from William Perrin and Professor Lorna Woods setting out a process by which electoral harms, including protecting the safety of those involved in elections and the integrity of the electoral process itself, might be addressed in the new Online Safety regime.
The regulatory timetable has become a bit clearer in recent weeks, with the Government confirming that the Queen’s Speech will take place on 11th May, ushering in a new session of Parliament in which we will see, according to Oliver Dowden, a draft Online Safety Bill receive pre-legislative scrutiny shortly after the new session starts followed by a full Bill “by the end of the year”.
Within 24 hours last week, the House of Lords debated a question on the impact of online anonymity on racist abuse of footballers and other public figures and then the House of Commons held a Backbench debate on online anonymity and online abuse, in which many MPs shared their own experience of the nature of the abuse directed at them on social media.
Meanwhile, in response to a parliamentary question from Damian Collins about the Defending Democracy programme, Cabinet Office Minister Chloe Smith suggested that “through the Online Harms legislative proposals”, the programme was “making good progress against two of its strategic objectives: to encourage respect for open, fair and safe democratic participation; and to promote fact-based discourse”.
Systems, design and governance
OFCOM has published its plan of work for 2021-2, which includes details on how it will be preparing for taking on its role as Online Harms regulator. In addition, it has also published its guidance for video-sharing platform providers on measures to protect users from harmful material, which is out for consultation. The guidance is supported by detailed research on user experiences of harm and a literature review of research into protection of minors on VSP platforms. Do take a look at this very helpful explainer on the guidance from Mark Bunting, Ofcom’s Online Harms Policy Director, which sets out how VSPs will be expected to take a “proactive approach to identifying and mitigating the risk of harmful material occurring on their platforms and, over time, to become more effective at reducing harm arising from their services”.
The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change has published a new piece on “brigading” - a form of coordinated internet behaviour with a significant impact on online safety.
Ciaran Martin, the former head of the UK National Cyber Security Centre, has written an article critical of the government’s recent “cyber rattling” in the Integrated Defence Review.
Avaaz has published the findings from its major investigation into the impact of Facebook on the spread of misinformation and disinformation in the run-up to the US Elections. It finds that, had the platform acted earlier, it could have stopped an estimated 10.1bn views of content from pages that repeatedly shared misinformation in the eight months prior to the elections. It sets out a 10-point plan to protect democracy, including calling on the Biden administration to “immediately begin working with the EU to bolster transatlantic coordination on approaches to key tech policy issues”. Meanwhile, the Centre for Countering Digital Hate has found – in its latest report, “The Disinformation Dozen” – that just 12 people are responsible for spreading two-thirds of anti-vaccination content online.
The Institute for Government hosted an expert panel discussion, including Damian Collins MP and BBC reporter Marianna Spring, on misinformation and disinformation, and what governments should do about it.
Consumer harms and scams
The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute has published “Safety Net”, the latest in its series of research reports on the impact of online scams on vulnerable users, and you can catch up with its launch event here.
The UN Special Rapporteurs have published a joint statement on how “digitalisation and the COVID-19 pandemic had facilitated a new wave of stigma, racism, xenophobia and hate targeting minorities and those considered "others", often promoted by authorities themselves, either directly or indirectly”.
Demos has published “A Picture of Health”, which looks at how the design of online spaces fuels negative behaviour, including trolling.
Hope Not Hate has published their “State of Hate 2021” research report on far-right extremism in Europe, alongside an investigation into the means by which a far-right youth group has organised itself on Instagram.
Meanwhile, Tik Tok seems to be having the same difficulties that Facebook did in Myanmar.
Privacy and data rights
The ICO have published guidance on the use of personal data for political campaigning.
Societal harms
The Lords Communications and Digital Committee heard evidence last week, in its inquiry into Online Freedom of Expression, from the Law Commission and former UN Special Rapporteur, David Kaye.
New research from the Gambling Health Alliance suggests overwhelming public support to make gambling safer.
European and international developments
The UN Open-Ended working group has published its report on protecting critical information infrastructure.
In the US, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce heard from big tech CEOs on misinformation and disinformation on their platforms.
A number of US states have sought to introduce digital advertising taxes: Texas is the latest (here) and its Bill is very similar to that from Maryland (here), while there are also proposals in Connecticut, Montana and New York. In addition, proposals for taxing social media are in the pipeline.
Meanwhile, California in its privacy rules has banned ‘dark designs’ and the FBI has published a notification on deep fake which flags concerns about 'synthetic content' including "the broad spectrum of generated or manipulated digital content, which includes images, video, audio, and text” and goes on to give top tips for trying to identify synthetic content and accounts.
The Houses of Parliament are in recess and return on 13th April.
Professor Lorna Woods will be giving evidence to the Lords Digital and Communications Committee in their inquiry into online freedom of expression on 14th April.
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