Online Safety Bill: Beefed up internet safety rules become law

After years of debate, the government's controversial Online Safety Bill, which aims to make the internet safer for children, has become law.

It seeks to force tech firms to take more responsibility for the content on their platforms.

Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan said it "ensures the online safety of British society not only now, but for decades to come."

But critics have raised concerns about the implications for privacy.

WhatsApp is among the messaging services to threaten to withdraw from the UK over the act.

What new rules are being introduced?

The new law puts the onus on firms to protect children from some legal but harmful material, with the regulator, Ofcom, being given extra enforcement powers.

It introduces new rules such as requiring pornography sites to stop children viewing content by checking ages.

Platforms will also need to show they are committed to removing illegal content including:

Cyber-flashing has been an offence in Scotland since 2010, but until now was not a specific offence in the rest of the UK.

The act also includes measures to make it easier for bereaved parents to obtain information about their children from tech firms.

What do big tech companies say?

Powers in the act that could be used to compel messaging services to examine the contents of encrypted messages for child abuse material have proved especially controversial.

Platforms like WhatsApp, Signal and iMessage say they cannot access or view anybody's messages without destroying existing privacy protections for all users, and have threatened to leave the UK rather than compromise message security.

The government has said the regulator Ofcom would only ask tech firms to access messages once "feasible technology" had been developed.

Wikipedia has also previously said it would not be able to obey some of the act such as age verification

While the act is often spoken about as a tool for reining in Big Tech, government figures have suggested more than 20,000 small businesses will also be affected.

Breaking the rules could result in fines of up to 10% of global revenue for tech companies, or £18m - whichever is bigger. Their bosses could also potentially face prison time as a punishment.

Ofcom says it will draw up codes of conduct that will provide guidance on how to stay within the new rules.

The regulator's chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes told MPs on Wednesday she was keen to set out how it will use its new power in the next few weeks.

"We're going to consult, literally within a day or two of the King's speech [7 November], on our first set of proposals for tackling illegal harms, because we really want to be quick in getting this bill implemented," she said.

Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at consumer group Which?, said: "It's right that Ofcom is planning to move quickly as it has a vital role to play in holding tech giants to a high standard".

Sir Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief executive, has previously said the law "will mean that children up and down the UK are fundamentally safer in their everyday lives."

He added this is partly "thanks to the incredible campaigning of abuse survivors and young people".

Campaigners have included Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life in 2017 after viewing suicide and self-harm content online on sites such as Instagram and Pinterest.

However, Jessica Ni Mhainin, from the Index on Censorship, said encryption was an essential part of secure banking, sharing medical information or protecting journalistic sources.

She added that the act "sets an extremely dangerous precedent. It will inevitably put our private information at risk of being intercepted and abused by foreign governments, hackers, and cyber criminals.

"It is now crucial that Ofcom's Codes of Practice robustly defends against the bulk access of the UK's private messages. You cannot break encryption once without breaking it for good."