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VIEWS & OPINION


The Government’s Online Safety Bill – great news, but what still needs to be addressed?


Comment by MARK BENTLEY, Safeguarding and Cybersecurity Manager at edtech charity LGfL-The National Grid for Learning


“Each day that passes without strong protection online puts children at risk of abuse”, said the NSPCC when it launched its Wild West Web campaign in 2018. In the past, children could ride a car without a seatbelt, but the Government changed the law to protect them. Why should the safety of children be any different online? Four years on, I’m


pleased to report that the Government has now published its Online Safety Bill, which once debated, approved by each House of Parliament, and is in receipt of Royal Assent, will become law. The new Bill is certainly a step in the right direction, but what still needs to be addressed? Typically in the education world, we focus on Department for


Education and Ofsted announcements, but over the past few months, the number of DCMS (Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport) press releases with relevance to keeping children safe online have been more and more regular and it is worth schools keeping an eye on how new legislation will affect protections on the internet and how we support the children and young people in our care. So what will the new legislation cover? The overall aim of the


Bill is to make things illegal online if they are illegal offline, and to give the same protection to children and other vulnerable users in the offline space that you would expect online. You will hear lots in the press about online scams and cyberflashing, protection against trolls and anonymous users, all of which are great to see. One of the most important things that would transform


children and young people’s experiences online is if they were not able to access apps, sites and games that are supposed to be for over 13s or over 18s. Pornography is the classic example here, and that is something that after several changes will be covered by the Bill for commercial providers and social media where lots of this content ends up. Numerous studies have shown the scale with which online porn


is being seen by children and the harm which is being done. Much of this is extreme and exhibiting harmful sexual behaviours that are being ‘taught’ to our young people by the internet. I’m pleased to report however that age verification will now be


required, and not just the classic “enter your date of birth” or “grab your parents’ credit cards”, but true user identification. There are some privacy concerns about this from some parties, but the last few years have seen some great BSI standards on how to do this without sharing your identity with tech companies, and many new providers of the required technology. The next steps are expected to be for this same kind of approach to be taken for the use of social media in general,


24 www.education-today.co.uk


which may lead to more age-appropriate and child-friendly apps thriving if they no longer need to compete with large platforms which claim to be for older users, but which are full of children. That may help schools with messaging around only using age- appropriate sites for students and parents, as we know how easy it is for these to be undermined. Parental controls, however, is one thing that is still to be


covered explicitly by the Bill. The new independent regulator will be Ofcom, and hopefully the codes of conduct they lay out will cover these issues and help ensure more effective controls. I would like to see more here, however, to turn on child settings by default and make them easier to use. It’s important that schools support families, by pointing them to


the controls already in place – a little bit of effort before giving children new devices or allowing them onto new apps and games definitely pays off in the long run, so schools need to make sure that they regularly remind parents of the settings and other measures they can take. We have lots of examples and a family agreement along with tips for how to talk to children about online harms at parentsafe.lgfl.net. I recommend that you keep an eye on the news as there are


some great opportunities for class discussion and debate which may reveal a lot to you about what we need to keep children safe from. The Bill will never be perfect and the proof of the pudding, as ever, remains in the eating, or rather its implementation and enforcement by Ofcom. But anything that helps keep children safe should be welcomed and it is great to see us moving in the right direction to create a safer internet.


So what is the Online Harms Bill from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport? Internet users are one step closer to a safer online environment as the Government’s new world-leading online safety laws were brought before parliament in late March. The Online Safety Bill marks a milestone in the fight for a new


digital age which is safer for users and holds tech giants to account. It will protect children from harmful content such as pornography and limit people’s exposure to illegal content, while protecting freedom of speech. It will require social media platforms, search engines and other


apps and websites allowing people to post their own content to protect children, tackle illegal activity and uphold their stated terms and conditions. The regulator Ofcom will have the power to fine companies


failing to comply with the laws up to ten per cent of their annual global turnover, force them to improve their practices and block non-compliant sites. Executives whose companies fail to cooperate with Ofcom’s


information requests could now face prosecution or jail time within two months of the Bill becoming law, instead of two years as it was previously drafted. A raft of other new offences have also been added to the Bill to


make in-scope companies’ senior managers criminally liable for destroying evidence, failing to attend or providing false information in interviews with Ofcom, and for obstructing the regulator when it enters company offices.


April 2022


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