Facebook and Google bosses ‘will be held liable for online harm including terror and child abuse’

Facebook and Google bosses will be held personally liable and face prosecution for online harm including terror and child abuse content, ministers will announce

  • Plans for new ‘senior management liability’ are heading to Cabinet today 
  • They would mean firms must appoint a director to take personal responsibility 
  • Director may be prosecuted if company does not comply with codes of practice
  • Baroness Morgan is set to appoint watchdog Ofcom as social media regulator

Social media bosses will face personal prosecution if they breach their duty of care, the Government will announce today. 

Culture Secretary Baroness Morgan is set to appoint Ofcom to enforce a legal duty of care demanding online giants like Google and Facebook shield children from abuse and self-harm material. 

Plans are heading to Cabinet today ahead of their expected launch on Safer Internet Day next Tuesday, where Lady Morgan will also reveal the results of a consultation on a White Paper on online harms, the Daily Telegraph reports. 

The Baroness wants new legislation similar to ‘senior management liability’ laws seen in the financial sector, where firms must appoint a director to be personally responsible for making sure legal standards and maintained, with breaches resulting in possible criminal prosecution. 

Pressure had been mounting on social media bosses following the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell, whose father said she took her own life after looking at self-harm posts on Instagram 

Culture Secretary Baroness Morgan is set to appoint Ofcom to enforce a legal duty of care demanding online giants like Google and Facebook shield children from abuse and self-harm material

A parliamentary Bill bringing the duty of care into law is expected to arrive by summer, with new regulations potentially in place by late next year. 

A source said: ‘If you go down to individual responsibility, that concentrates the minds of executives in a way corporate responsibility might not.’

Ofcom will advise on possible legal measures to take against directors appointed responsible for a firm’s legal compliance, including prosecution, enforcement notices, disqualification and fines. 

The regulator will also reportedly be given license to draw up legally enforceable codes of practice that social media firms must adhere to. 

It is understood that to make sure the rules can be enforced, firms such as Facebook who are headquartered in the US will be forced to appoint a director based in this country. 

This is the person who would be held accountable if their company breached new rules on protecting users.

The NSPCC’s Andy Burrows said: ‘Any regulator will only succeed if it has the power to impose hefty fines that hit rogue companies hard in the pocket and hold named directors and tech firms criminally accountable.’

Boris Johnson had vowed to make Britain the ‘safest place in the world to be online’ in the Conservative Party manifesto and his Queen’s Speech. 

It is expected that the Home Office will publish codes for taking down terrorist content and internet child abuse before summer, with other possible online harms including self-harm material, violence, harassment and disinformation that causes public alarm, such as anti-vaccine propaganda, 

Pressure had been mounting on social media bosses following the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell, whose father said she took her own life after looking at self-harm posts on Instagram

Pressure had been mounting on social media bosses following the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell, whose father said she took her own life after looking at self-harm posts on Instagram 

Stricter age verification rules for online pornography could also be introduced. 

Ofcom could be given the ability to impose fines worth up to four per cent of a firm’s global turnover for potential code breaches. 

This might mean fees of £2 billion for Facebook and £5 billion for Google. 

Ofcom may also be given powers to block access to Britain for persistent and serious breaches of the duty of care. 

Home Secretary Priti Patel is today backing appeals from child safety groups for Facebook to not extend end-to-end encryption for messaging, which is intended to prevent data being read or secretly modified. 

Facebook told the Telegraph protection of young people was ‘critically important’ and it the company was ‘committed to building strong safety measures’ into its plans.

New regulations for internet companies had initially been considered under Theresa May over summer 2019, but pressure on her position meant that the laws were never brought forward.

The move to regulate social media companies was in the Conservative manifesto, which said: ‘We will legislate to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online.

‘Protecting children from online abuse and harms, protecting the most vulnerable from accessing harmful content and ensuring there is no safe space for terrorists to hide online.’

December’s Queen’s Speech promised to move forward with new legislation following a consultation, which received more than 2,000 responses. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk