Contributions
2,186 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)I follow, but I do not agree. The categories of content in proposed new subsections (8C) and (8D), introduced by amendment 15, underpin a lot of this. I answered the question in…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)No, not about whether climate change is happening, but we are talking about a wide range. “Provides false information”—how do the companies determine what is false? I am not…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)I have been clear about where I set the line. [ Interruption. ] I have said that if something is illegal, it is illegal. The terms of service of the platforms largely cover the…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (First sitting)To protect free speech and remove any possibility that the Bill could cause tech companies to censor legal content, I seek to remove the so-called “legal but harmful” duties from…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)Hate crime legislation will always be considered by the Ministry of Justice, but I am not committing to any changes. That is beyond my reach, but the two shields that we talked…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (First sitting)Absolutely. I will come on to Ofcom in a second and respond directly to his question. The removal of clauses 12, 13 and 55 from the Bill, if agreed by the Committee, will require…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)No, but there is freedom of expression to a point—when it starts to reach into illegality. We have to have the balance right: someone can say something in public—in any session…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)The amendment does not talk about vaccine efficacy; it talks about content that is harmful to health. That is a wide-ranging thing.13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)I will come back to some of the earlier points. At the end of the day, when platforms change their terms and conditions, which they are free to do, they will be judged by their…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)Absolutely. We have captured that in other parts of the Bill, but I wanted to make that specific bit clear because I am not sure whether I understood or answered my hon. Friend’s…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)The hon. Lady makes a good point. I talked about the offline world rather than the real world, but clearly that can happen. That is where the balance has to be struck, as we heard…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We are putting in those protections, but we want companies to have due regard to freedom of speech. I want to clarify a point that my hon.…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)These amendments clarify the meaning of “restricting access to content” and “access to content” for the purposes of the Bill. Restricting access to content is an expression that…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)I will have a go at that, but I am happy to write to the hon. Lady if I do not respond as fully as she wants. Down-ranking content is a moderation action, as she says, but it is…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (First sitting)On terms and conditions, it is clearly best practice to have a different level of explanation that ensures children can fully understand what they are getting into. The hon. Lady…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)Absolutely. There are plenty of reasons why platforms will rank users’ content, including down-ranking it. Providing personal content recommendations will have that process in it…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)I beg to move amendment 22, in clause 19, page 20, line 27, leave out from “down” to “and” in line 28 and insert “or access to it being restricted, or given a lower priority or…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (First sitting)That is a good point. In essence, age verification is the hard access to a service. Age assurance ensures that the person who uses the service is the same person whose age was…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)The Government recognise the importance of giving adult users greater choice about what they see online and who they interact with, while upholding users’ rights to free…13 Dec 2022HANSARDONLINE SAFETY BILL (Second sitting)I appreciate the hon. Lady’s remarks. We have tried to ensure that the Bill is proportionate, inasmuch as the Secretary of State can designate content if there is material risk of…13 Dec 2022