Social Media and Censorship
Online Harms White Paper
The Online Harms White Paper or OHWP, is a UK framework legislative document which states that its objective is to make "...the UK to be the safest place in the world to go online...". Brexit allowed this document to be passed due to the split between UK law and EU law. The OHWP details the problems it believes it's addressing as well as the censoring methods the government plans on employing to silence selective internet content. While the paper identifies terrorist groups, echo chambers, and child sex offenders as persisting problems on the internet it also poses other questionable problems on the same level as the other offenses. These vague answers include "...abuse and bullying...", and "...disinformation to undermine our democratic values and principles...", as well as content that "...may not be illegal...". Yet at the same time, the document states that their vision is for "...freedom of expression online...". As far as censoring the deemed "problems", the document vaguely states that there will be a crackdown on regulatory and voluntary governmental initiatives forced upon social platforms. The document continues to repeat that they are trying to negate harmful behavior over the internet... but one can only imagine the multitude of infringement upon UK citizens' freedoms of speech. Just remember that without Brexit, this could have never been signed into legislation.
"duty of care"
The scariest phrase in this document is the idea of a "duty of care" the UK government and Ofcom will force upon any and all online platforms operating in the UK. This phrase would allow the UK government to censor pretty much anything it deems as not holding up to their standards of safety. This phrase threatens the very existence of free speech or the free flow of information. We are already seeing companies like The Telegraph endorse these new laws "under the guise of fighting 'disinformation'" when all they are doing is attempting to gain governmental promotion of their stories. If there's any sign of what's to come of these laws, at the moment there are similar laws about supposed "junk food" in the UK in a "war on obesity". The law blocked ads ranging from cheese and olive oil to the iconic British dessert of strawberries and cream. Just these vague food ad laws are costing companies thousands of dollars in marketing due to the ever-changing parameters of the law - what's going to happen when Ofcom doesn't just control food, but every word you post online?
Sources:
