Why the Online Safety Bill is proving so controversial

The crux of the plan was to make Ofcom the new regulator of internet firms, with the power to fine them up to 10% of their global turnover if they failed to take down harmful content.

For technology companies, the fear was it would not be clear what they were expected to censor, and they demanded more clarity.- they were concerned the rule overreached and firms would err on the side of caution to avoid the hefty fines threatened by the government, leading to a direct threat to free speech.

Yet there was still no definition of the so-called legal harms - just the promise it would be set out in further legislation down the track.Instead of progressing though, the law was again hit by delays, this time due to the trials and tribulations within the Conservative Party. The future of the law was then up in the air, with a new leader set to take the keys to Downing Street.Boris Johnson handed the baton on to Liz truss, who did promise to keep the bill with "tweaks".

Ms Dorries also warned the frontbench should be prepared for"one mother of a massive fight" with female Tory MPs if the bill was watered down, attacking her successor Michelle Donelan in the House magazine, saying she had"been in the job five minutes and does not understand enough about it".Fast forward a month and it brings us to the government's new announcement - the bill is back and with some significant changes.

But instead of their legal but harmful duties, they will have to provide adults with tools to hide certain content they do not wish to see - such as posts related to eating disorders, misogyny and other forms of abuse.

Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)

To ‘Protect people online’, but also to censor and dramatically limit free speech and freedom of press. This legislation is not all it seems.

It's controversial because its a huge pile of wank. The very concept of legal but harmful speech is ludicrous. Speech can't hurt you unless you let it.

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