Tech platforms will be banned from taking down news content in the UK until an appeal against the decision is heard, ministers have said.
A change to the Online Safety Bill means that articles that breach a service’s terms and conditions cannot be removed or hidden until the publisher has been notified and received the verdict of any appeal to the platform.
The change in legislation aims to avoid a repeat of last year’s incident, when YouTube suddenly banned digital station TalkRadio from its platform for violating its content guidelines. He was recovered 12 hours later.
Culture Minister Nadine Dorries said democracy “depends on people’s access to high-quality journalism”. She added: “We’ve seen tech firms arbitrarily remove legitimate journalism with a complete lack of transparency, and this can seriously affect public discourse. These additional protections will prevent this from happening.
The amendment applies to the biggest tech platforms, such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, and is designed to address concerns that the bill’s provisions to protect consumers from harmful content could encourage tech firms to be overzealous in removing or downgrading content.
The new provision does not apply to illegal content known as priority offenses in the bill, which cover content such as terrorist material and child sexual abuse material, which can be removed without appeal. It also would not apply to news outlets that are subject to sanctions, such as Kremlin-backed RT and Sputnik.
Other amendments include requiring Ofcom, the communications watchdog, to review the bill’s impact on news publishers’ content within two years of the law coming into effect. There will also be additional protections for reader comments on articles. The bill is due to return to parliament next week before being implemented early next year.
The News Media Association, which represents 900 titles in the national, regional and local news industry, said the changes were “essential” to protect press freedom.
“These amendments are essential to protect media freedom and to protect consumers’ access to accurate, timely and reliable news and information online,” said Saira Tekin, director of legal affairs at the NMA. “By ensuring that the content of recognized news publishers cannot be arbitrarily removed from platforms, the Online Safety Bill will help tackle the deluge of false and misinformation online.”
The government has also announced some of the harmful content it expects tech platforms to tackle. Categories include online abuse and harassment, promoting eating disorders and promoting self-harm. The major platforms will have to explain how they will deal with this content – including whether it will lead to takedowns – in their terms and conditions, which will be monitored by Ofcom.
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