Prime minister Rishi Sunak has conceded to backbench demands over the UK government’s flagship online safety bill after almost 50 Conservatives backed an amendment aimed at prosecuting social media bosses who fail to protect under-18s online.
The legislation, which is due to return to the House of Commons on Tuesday, is designed to protect under-18s from harmful content and remove illegal content online, with Ofcom, the communications regulator, able to issue large fines to tech giants that do not comply with the law.
Last week, more than three dozen Conservative MPs backed an amendment led by Miriam Cates and Sir Bill Cash that would see senior management threatened with up to two years in prison if found to have failed in their duty to protect under-18s from harmful content.
Following talks between the culture secretary Michelle Donelan and leading rebels late on Monday evening, Tory MPs agreed to drop their amendment and support the bill, and to work with the minister on changing the legislation in the House of Lords.
Donelan has “been clear from the beginning that any additions to the online safety bill need to work in practice and that she would take a pragmatic and common sense approach prioritising children”, an official close to the culture secretary said. “She is pleased that colleagues will no longer be pushing their amendments to a vote following constructive conversation and work.”
Paul Scully, minister for tech and digital economy, is expected to make an announcement outlining the government’s position later on Tuesday.
This is the third time the prime minister has been forced to climb down over controversial legislation to avoid a defeat from his own MPs. Last year, he narrowly avoided parliamentary defeats over onshore wind farms and housing planning reforms, opting instead to compromise with Conservative backbenchers.
Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell described Sunak as “weak”, adding: “We’ve got no idea where the government truly stand on these issues. They’ve flip-flopped, one minute massive weakening the bill, the next minute forced into a minor strengthening.”
Criminal liability for senior managers has the backing of child safety charities and campaigners, including Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly took her own life after viewing harmful content on sites including Instagram.
Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight programme on Monday evening, Russell argued that the threat of imprisonment was a “really important thing in terms of changing the corporate culture” within tech organisations.
The government’s decision “is a crucial step towards legislation that can truly act as a pillar of the child protection system for years to come”, said Richard Collard, associate head of child online safety at the NSPCC child protection charity.
TechUK, a trade body, has maintained that the consequences for failing to comply with the current bill, including the threat of a 10 per cent fine of annual global revenue, were enough to force companies to protect children online.
Neil Ross, associate director of policy at Tech UK, warned last week that without more clarity on what could trigger criminal liability, companies could pull back on investing in the UK or feel pushed towards a “model of over-removal of content due to fears over liability”.
“Any proposal for senior management liability needs to be clear, proportionate and workable. We are pleased the government has recognised this,” he added on Tuesday.
The Irish online safety and media regulation bill, which became law in December 2022, is emerging as a potential model for the UK government to follow.
Under the act, senior managers can be found criminally liable after a series of checks, including whether they fail to comply with a warning notice from the country’s online safety commissioner.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport did not immediately respond to a request for comment.