What will the Online Safety Bill do?

All platforms in scope of the Bill will need to tackle and remove illegal material online, particularly material relating to terrorism and child sexual exploitation and abuse. The largest, highest-risk platforms (Category 1 providers such as Facebook) will have to address named categories of “legal but harmful” material accessed by adults. Providers will need to “make clear in their terms and conditions what is and is not acceptable on their site and enforce this”. These services will also have a duty to bring in user empowerment tools which would allow users to reduce their exposure to harmful content.

What protections are already in the Bill for media outlets?

The Bill states that platforms do not have any duties relating to content from recognised media outlets, which the Government believes will protect such content from being unfairly removed or restricted. For content to be protected in this way, a recognised media outlet must have the ‘principal purpose’ of producing ‘news-related material’ and must be subject to a standards code (eg. IPSO). Content from recognised media outlets has additional protections on Category 1 services such as Facebook.

Will the Bill protect specialist publishers?

At present, the PPA is concerned that the definitions of ‘news-related material’ are too narrow to provide protections for PPA members whose titles are already subject to a standards code (eg. IPSO). Despite the expert parliamentary committee recommending that Government work with industry bodies to ensure that protections for recognised media outlets encompass consumer magazine and business media publishers, the Bill has not been amended to reflect the immense value of specialist publishers’ content.

Why does this matter?

Protecting the trusted content provided by our publishers is vital to our industry. Research by Ofcom, the regulator which will oversee the online safety regime, shows that the UK public consider magazines to be more trusted than any other news medium. Platforms will face high penalties if they do not comply with the Bill, which means there is a danger that indiscriminate algorithms could remove trusted journalistic content.

What happens now?

We are encouraged however that Government has confirmed that ‘Ministers will also continue to consider how to ensure platforms do not remove content from recognised media outlets.’ Further, in an article in Conservative Home, the Secretary of State wrote: “I have every intention of further improving the requirements for platforms not to remove content from recognised media outlets during the passage of the bill”. The Bill will have a further reading in the coming weeks, meaning it will be debated in parliament.

What is the PPA doing?

The PPA has a dedicated Public Affairs Executive and we also work closely with a team of expert consultants whose role is to engage with Government on behalf of PPA members. We are continuing to speak with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and parliamentarians, to ensure that the media protections in the Bill reflect specialist publishers’ value as an indispensable element of the UK’s media ecosystem.