Britain’s Secretary of State for Digital Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden is seen at Downing Street, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease , London May 13, 2020. — Reuters picLONDON, May 12 — Britain’s online regulator could be given powers to impose hefty fines on technology companies that fail to remove harmful content, as part of draft legislation unveiled by the government today.
Under the guidelines, social media sites, websites and apps must remove and limit the spread of illegal and harmful content, including posts showing the sexual abuse of children or suicide as well as terrorist material. At the end of April, football stars and others from the sports world staged a four-day social media boycott to highlight online abuse and discrimination.
A French law which imposed fines on platforms for failing to take down hateful content was struck down for impinging on freedom of expression in 2020.