Online safety bill to tackle 'absurd situation' of age limit checks

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Amendments to the Online Safety Bill will tackle the "absurd situation" surrounding the enforcement of age limits on social media platforms, said the Culture Secretary.

The Government has announced that it is making changes to proposed internet safety laws to make it safer for children online.

The updates will require technology companies to show how they enforce user age limits, as well as post summaries of risk assessments regarding potential harm to children on their sites and report details of enforcement actions taken. against them by Ofcom - the new regulator of the technology sector.

Child protection is the fundamental reason why the online security bill was created, and so the changes I have made significantly strengthen the child protection elements of the Bill

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan

Writing for The Telegraph, Secretary to Culture Michelle Donelan said the new version of the bill better reflects its "original purpose" of "protecting young people".

"The protection of children is the fundamental reason why the bill Online Safety Act was created, and so the changes I made significantly strengthen the child protection elements of the bill,” she said.

“ Some platforms claim they don't allow anyone under the age of 13; any parent will tell you that's nonsense. Some platforms claim not to allow children, but simultaneously serve ads targeting children. Legislation now requires companies to be much clearer about how they enforce their own age limits."

Along with changes to make children safer online, controversial measures that would have forced social media sites to remove material designated as "legal but harmful" must be removed.

Under the plans of the original bill, the largest platforms would have been obliged not only to remove illegal content , but also any content designated in legislation as legal but potentially harmful.

These measures have drawn criticism from free speech activists, who have claimed that governments or tech platforms could use the bill to censor certain content.

The amended bill would require platforms to remove illegal content, as well as remove any material that violates s his own terms of use.

And instead of legal but harmful duties,...