Individuals who post content that promotes self harm will be prosecuted under new revised legislation.
Michelle Donelan, the UK’s culture secretary plans to update the Online Safety Bill before it goes to the Houses of Parliament for a vote following the inquest into the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell - who took her own life in 2017 - found the “negative effects of online content” added to her death.
Michelle said: “I am determined that the abhorrent trolls encouraging the young and vulnerable to self-harm are brought to justice. So I am strengthening our online safety laws to make sure these vile acts are stamped out and the perpetrators face jail.”
The suggested amendment to the bill - which will appear on the House of Common's agenda on 5 December - also mandates social media companies to stop content appearing and intends to deter with the looming threat of fines. In addition, the bill also gives social media platforms - such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter - a duty of care to users to block the content from showing up. It seeks to give Ofcom, the national commuicatons regulator, the ability to hand down fines of up to 10 per cent of company revenues.
Michelle said: “Social media firms can no longer remain silent bystanders. They’ll face fines for allowing this abusive and destructive behaviour to continue on their platforms under our laws.”
The bill - which was first introduced in 2021 - has been delayed due to Conservative party division about the threat it poses to free speech. In the summer, Kemi Badenoch deemed the bill in “no fit state” to be law and argued “we should not be legislating for hurt feelings”.
The then-Culture secretary Nadine Dorries clapped back, asking if telling people to kill themselves was merely “hurt feelings”, a debate that Michelle said she intended to iron out.
