Key Facts

• The Government moved a motion to amend the programme order agreed by the Committee on Tuesday.
• Barnardo’s is replacing The Football Association in the schedule.
• Witnesses include Mat Ilic, William May, Professor Lorna Woods MBE and William Perrin OBE.
• The Government signed up to a recommendation by the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe in April this year.
• Clause 40 gives the Secretary of State powers of direction over Ofcom's codes of practice.
• Clause 147 allows the Secretary of State to give tactical guidance to Ofcom, which goes against convention.
• Clause 146 grants unusual powers for the Secretary of State to direct companies without a particularly high threshold.
• Maria Miller opens a conversation about child protection within the Online Safety Bill.
• The key objective is ensuring higher protection for children than adults under the legislation.
• Questions focus on whether risks of harm to children should be set out explicitly in the Bill.
• The research shows social media catalyzes serious youth violence and child exploitation.
• The safety-by-design focus needs age-specific frameworks built into products designed for children.
• Search engines have no duty to regulate advertising content aimed at children.
• William Moy declares an interest in clause 15 due to Full Fact's exemption coverage.
• Clause 15 involves a news publisher content exemption which Full Fact finds awkward and not adequately addressing freedom of expression concerns.
• The Bill is described as a risk-management regime focusing on high-risk events and individuals, including election staff, candidates, and journalists.
• Clause 50 sets out exemptions for recognised news publishers.
• William Moy suggests using public benefit journalism criteria from recent Charity Commission decisions as useful criteria.
• The Leveson inquiry's criteria for self-regulation of media organisations are also mentioned as a potential source of useful criteria.
• Christina Rees introduces Danny Stone, Stephen Kinsella, and Liron Velleman for a panel discussion.
• The session is scheduled until 1 pm.
• The Community Security Trust's report “Hate Fuel” highlighted instances where legal but harmful material inspired real-world harm.
• Payton Gendron, responsible for the Buffalo shooting, cited /pol/ on 4chan as a source of motivation.
• Smaller platforms do not have the same regulatory burden as larger services under the Bill.
• Search services are currently not required to address legal harms under the Bill.
• Microsoft Bing was prompting users with harmful content such as "Jews are" followed by a rude word.
• Alexa responded affirmatively when asked if George Soros is evil, based on information from an anonymous contributor.
• The Bill currently has a limited reference to anonymity.
• There is concern about verifying users' identities without compromising their data privacy.
• Polling indicates that at least two-thirds of citizens are willing to be verified if it means screening out unverified accounts.
• Third-party verification systems, such as One ID and open banking principles, could provide a solution for user identity verification.
• The Online Safety Bill lists priority illegal harms.
• Danny Stone recommends referencing the Equality Act in the Bill for additional clarity on protected characteristics.
• Navendu Mishra asks if the Bill sufficiently protects groups suffering disproportionate abuse online.
• The Online Safety Bill aims to regulate harmful content on platforms.
• Clauses 15 and 16 require operators to consider content of democratic importance and journalistic value proportionately.
• Platforms like BitChute are discussed in relation to their obligations under the Bill.
• UCL data shows that 68% of nearly 8,000 students were unfamiliar with the term 'antisemitism'.
• The panel discusses the importance of verification to build trust online.
• Media literacy is crucial for both children and adults, especially in light of harmful content proliferation on community platforms during the pandemic.
• The session was ordered to be adjourned at Two o'clock on the same day.
• Steve Double is mentioned as initiating the order for adjournment.