Concerns have been raised about changes to a law that hopes to regulate the internet in the wake of the tragic murder of teenager Olly Stephens.
MPs have been debating the Online Safety Bill, the stated aim of which is to keep websites and social media free of illegal and harmful content while defending freedom of speech.
Changes to the bill have been made since its introduction in May last year.
Measures which would remove ‘legal but harmful’ content have been replaced with a duty by websites and social media to provide adults tools to block such content which does not meet the criminal threshold.
Examples of ‘legal but harmful’ content include self-harm, graphic imagery, or misinformation.
The changes mean measures that would force websites and social media to delete such content have been removed.
This has led to concerns that children will be able to access problematic content.
The issue has been raised by with Stuart Stephens, the father of 13-year-old Olly Stephens, who was murdered in January 2021, and Matt Rodda, the Labour MP for Reading East.
Mr Stephens and Mr Rodda met in Parliament ahead of a debate of the bill, which Mr Stephens watched from the public gallery.
Speaking during the debate, Mr Rodda said: “Legal but harmful content can have a truly dreadful effect.
“I pay tribute to the families of the children who have been lost, who have attended the debate, a number of whom are in the Public Gallery.
“Harmful, but legal, content had a terrible effect on the attack on Olly.
“The two boys who attacked and stabbed him had been sharing enormous numbers of pictures and videos of knives, repeatedly, over a long period of time.
“There were often videos of teenagers playing with knives, waving them or holding them.
“They circulated them on 11 different social media platforms over a long period of time. None of those platforms took any action to take the content down. We all need to learn more about such cases to fully understand the impact of legal but harmful content.
“Even at this late stage, I hope that the Government will think again about the changes they have made to the Bill and include this area again in the Bill.”
He continued: “There is a second aspect of this very difficult case that I want to mention: the fact that Olly’s murder was discussed on social media and was planned to some extent beforehand.
“The wider issues here underline the need for far greater regulation and moderation of social media, in particular teenagers’ use of these powerful sites.
“I am finding it difficult to talk about some of these matters, but I hope that the Government will take my points on board and address the issue of legal but harmful content, and that the Minister will think again about these important matters.
“Perhaps we will have an opportunity to discuss it in the Bill’s later stages.”
Olly was murdered on January 3, 2021. Two teen boys were convicted of murder and a teenage girl admitted manslaughter in connection to the attack.
They were sentenced last July.
