Comments to the UK House of Commons Public Bill Committee Regarding the UK Online Safety Bill
On June 8th, the Public Bill Committee in the United Kingdom’s House of Commons accepted the Center for Data Innovation’s submission regarding the Online Safety Bill.
As explained in the Center’s submission, while online safety is of the utmost importance online, the UK’s Online Safety Bill fails to preserve users’ rights to legal free expression and privacy in the digital space and will actually exacerbate privacy and content moderation concerns online. In particular, the Online Safety Bill will: 1) Incentivize businesses to over-moderate online speech at the expense of legal free expression to avoid penalties; and 2) Undermine encryption and anonymity online, which will erode online privacy and jeopardize user welfare. Therefore, the Center recommends amending the Online Safety Bill to protect UK users online.
