October 16, 2017

The Government says that to crack down on dangers such as cyber-bullying, trolling and under-age access to porn, the Government’s Internet Safety Strategy proposes:

• a new social media code of practice to see a joined-up approach to remove or address bullying, intimidating or humiliating online content;
• an industry-wide levy so social media companies and communication service providers contribute to raise awareness and counter internet harms;
• an annual internet safety transparency report to show progress on addressing abusive and harmful content and conduct; and
• support for tech and digital start-ups to think safety first, ensuring that necessary safety features are built into apps and products from the very start.

The Government explains that in the past year, almost one fifth of 12-15 year olds encountered something online that they “found worrying or nasty in some way” and 64% of 13-17 year olds have seen images or videos offensive to a particular group. Nearly half of adult users also say they have seen something that has upset or offended them on social media.

The Internet Safety Green Paper aims to tackle these growing dangers, while continuing to embrace the huge benefits and opportunities the Internet has brought for British citizens.

The strategy sets out the Government’s ambition to create a strong framework that can tackle online harms. All options will be carefully considered, working collaboratively with industry and charities and supporting children, parents and carers.

The Government says that today’s is the first generation of children who are learning about relationships and sex in an online world. Therefore, the Strategy also outlines the crucial role that education will play in raising online safety awareness, with a particular focus on children and parents:

• new compulsory school subjects: Relationship Education at primary and Relationship & Sex Education at secondary to provide online safety education;
• social media safety advice: Government will encourage social media companies to offer safety advice and tools to parents, and safety messages will be built into online platforms; and
• safety features highlighted: Government will work to raise awareness around the safety products and features that are available for parents.

It is proposed that the UK Council for Child Internet Safety becomes the UK Council for Internet Safety to consider the safety of all users, not just children, and help deliver the measures within the Strategy.

To read the DCMS press release in full and to access the Strategy, click here.