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The Online Safety Act is putting free speech at risk and needs significant adjustments, Elon Musk’s social network X has warned.
New rules that came into force last week require platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and X – as well as sites hosting pornography – to bring in measures to prove that someone using them is over the age of 18.
The Online Safety Act requires sites to protect children and to remove illegal content, but critics have said that the rules have been implemented too broadly, resulting in the censorship of legal content.
X has warned the act’s laudable intentions were “at risk of being overshadowed by the breadth of its regulatory reach”.
It said: “When lawmakers approved these measures, they made a conscientious decision to increase censorship in the name of ‘online safety’.
“It is fair to ask if UK citizens were equally aware of the trade-off being made.”
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What are the new online rules?
X claims the timetable for platforms to meet mandatory measures had been unnecessarily tight – and despite complying, sites still faced threats of enforcement and fines, “encouraging over-censorship”.
“A balanced approach is the only way to protect individual liberties, encourage innovation and safeguard children. It’s safe to say that significant changes must take place to achieve these objectives in the UK,” it said.
A UK government spokesperson said it is “demonstrably false” that the Online Safety Act compromises free speech.
“As well as legal duties to keep children safe, the very same law places clear and unequivocal duties on platforms to protect freedom of expression,” they added.
Users have complained about age checks that require personal data to be uploaded to access sites that show pornography, and 468,000 people have already signed a petition asking for the new law to be repealed.
In response to the petition, the government said it had “no plans” to reverse the Online Safety Act.
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Why do people want to repeal the Online Safety Act?
Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage likened the new rules to “state suppression of genuine free speech” and said his party would ditch the regulations.
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said on Tuesday that those who wanted to overturn the act were “on the side of predators” – to which Mr Farage demanded an apology, calling Mr Kyle’s comments “absolutely disgusting”.
Regulator Ofcom said on Thursday it had launched an investigation into how four companies – that collectively run 34 pornography sites – are complying with new age-check requirements.
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These companies – 8579 LLC, AVS Group Ltd, Kick Online Entertainment S.A. and Trendio Ltd – run dozens of sites, and collectively have more than nine million unique monthly UK visitors, the internet watchdog said.
The regulator said it prioritised the companies based on the risk of harm posed by the services they operated and their user numbers.
It adds to the 11 investigations already in progress into 4chan, as well as an unnamed online suicide forum, seven file-sharing services, and two adult websites.
Ofcom said it expects to make further enforcement announcements in the coming months.
Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn may be the figureheads of a new left-wing party, but already there is a battle over leadership.
The confusion behind the initial launch speaks to a wider debate happening behind closed doors as to who should steer the party – now and in the future.
Already, in the true spirit of Mr Corbyn’s politics, there is talk of an open leadership contest and grassroots participation.
Some supporters of the new party – which is being temporarily called “Your Party” while a formal name is decided by members – believe that allowing a leadership contest to take place honours Mr Corbyn’s commitment to open democracy.
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Jeremy Corbyn open to ideas on new party name
They point out that under Mr Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party, members famously backed plans to make it easier for local constituency parties to deselect sitting MPs – a concept he strongly believed in.
His allies now say the former Labour leader, who is 76, is open to there being a leadership contest for the new party, possibly at its inaugural conference in the autumn, where names lesser known than himself can throw their hat into the ring.
“Jeremy would rather die than not have an open leadership contest,” one source familiar with the internal politics told Sky News.
However, there have been suggestions that Ms Sultana appears to be less keen on the idea of a leadership contest, and that she is more committed to the co-leadership model than her political partner.
Those who have been opposed to the co-leadership model believe it could give Ms Sultana an unfair advantage and exclude other potential candidates from standing in the future.
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Corbyn’s new political party isn’t ‘real deal’
One source told Sky News they believed Mr Corbyn should lead the party for two years, to get it established, before others are allowed to stand as leader.
They said Ms Sultana, who became an independent MP after she was suspended from Labour for opposing the two-child benefit cap, was “highly ambitious but completely untested as leader” and “had a lot of growing into the role to do”.
“It’s not about her – it’s about taking a democratic approach, which is what we’re supposed to be doing,” they said.
“There are so many people who have done amazing things locally and they need to have a chance to emerge as leaders.
“We are not only fishing from a pool of two people.
“It needs to be an open contest. Nobody needs to be crowned.”
Read more:
Where insiders think Corbyn’s new party could win
PM would be foolish not to recognise threat party poses
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Corbyn’s new party shakes the left
While Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana undoubtedly have the biggest profiles out of would-be leaders, advocates for a grassroots approach to the leadership point to the success some independent candidates have enjoyed at a local level – for example, 24-year-old British Palestinian Leah Mohammed, who came within 528 votes of unseating Health Secretary Wes Streeting in Ilford North.
Fiona Lali of the Revolutionary Communist Party, who stood in last year’s general election for the Stratford and Bow constituency, has also been mentioned in some circles as someone with potential leadership credentials.
However, sources close to Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana downplayed suggestions of any divide over the leadership model, pointing out that their joint statement acknowledged that members would “decide the party’s direction” at the inaugural conference in the autumn, including the model of leadership and the policies that are needed to transform society.
A spokesperson for Mr Corbyn told Sky News: “Jeremy will be working with Zarah, his independent colleagues, and people from trade unions and social movements up and down the country to make an autumn conference a reality.
“This will be the moment where people come together to launch a new democratic party that belongs to the members.”
Sky News has approached Ms Sultana for comment.
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