U.K. Bill would place social media executives at risk of facing criminal sanctions
Facebook’s name change (which only affects the name of the company, not the social media site itself) comes after former employee turned whistleblower Frances Haugen testified in front of the U.K. Parliament last month and said that lawmakers on the continent have only a “slight window of time” to stop the spread of hate speech and contentious content. Haugen also testified in front of U.S. lawmakers in October stating that Facebook puts profits ahead of doing the right thing.
U.K. minister Nadine Dorries is ready to take on Facebook and other social media platforms
Explaining what to expect from Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “The next platform will be even more immersive — an embodied internet where you’re in the experience, not just looking at it. We call this the metaverse, and it will touch every product we build.” The executive defined the metaverse as “a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users.”
The U.K. is looking to fine social media companies that help to spread illegal and harmful content 10% of global annual revenue or £18 million ($24.2 million), whichever is higher. Executives at these social media firms could face criminal action within two years if they fail to stop the dissemination of what would be considered content that is against the law.
Tech giants have said that they are investing both their time and effort into making their platforms safer. Meta says that it has 40,000 employees working on platform safety.
U.K. Minister says that the Bill will end anonymous online abuse
She added, “First, this Bill will force tech giants to swiftly identify and remove illegal content. Secondly, platforms will have to prevent children from accessing harmful content like pornography, and enforce age limits. We’ve worked with the Law Commission to advise on how we could expand the definition of illegal content to include the promotion of self-harm – something I feel very strongly about.”
The minister says that the Bill will surely end anonymous online abuse. “The question of anonymity has dominated the conversation about online abuse over the past week,” Dorries wrote in that piece for the Daily Mail. “Rest assured, this Bill will end anonymous abuse, because it will end abuse, full stop.”
