A new poll of 1,300 IT specialists has found that, in its current form, the UK Government’s proposed Online Safety Bill is not fit for purpose.

The Bill would put a duty on tech giants like Facebook and Google to develop systems to identify and remove illegal material and clarify how they would deal with content that is harmful to adults and children. Ofcom would enforce this as the regulator.

However, only 14% of tech professionals believed the legislation was ‘fit for purpose’, according to a survey by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Around 46% said the Bill was not workable, with the rest unsure. The legislation would have a negative effect on freedom of speech, more than half (58%) of IT specialists agreed.

Only 19% felt the measures proposed would make the internet safer, with 51% saying the law would not make it safer to be online.

The Government has stressed the Bill does not require the removal of legal content. But larger platforms must set out how ‘priority content that is harmful to adults’ – such as suicide-related material – is dealt with.

This could include specifying the content would be removed, or deprioritising it in news feeds, or simply making it clear what content is freely accessible. Types of harmful content will be specified by parliament; platforms must also take steps not to limit freedom of speech.

Only 9% of the IT specialists polled said they were confident that ‘legal but harmful content’ could be effectively and proportionately removed. Just under three quarters (74%) of those polled said they felt the Bill would do nothing to stop the spread of disinformation and fake news.

Only 25% said they felt it was realistic for Ofcom to ask platforms to ‘develop or source’ accurate technology to detect sexual abuse material; 57% said it was not.

The Online Safety Bill is now due to return to parliament after the new Prime Minister is chosen on 5th September.

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Rob Deri, Chief Executive of BCS, said: “There is real need to prevent online harm, but this law only goes part way to trying to achieve that. The aim should be to prevent hatred and abusive online behaviours by stopping harmful material from appearing online in the first place – and that takes a mix of both technical and societal changes.

“A new Prime Minister should take the opportunity to fundamentally review the Online Safety Bill in its current form.”

Deri added: “The technology itself has an important part to play in keeping people safe on social media platforms. However, the Bill leans too heavily on tech solutions to prevent undesirable content, which can’t be relied upon to do that well enough and could affect freedom of speech and privacy in ways that are unacceptable in a democratic society.

“The legislation should also focus on substantive programmes of digital education and advice so that young people and their parents can confidently navigate the risks of social media throughout their lives.”

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