The Society of Editors has welcomed the announcement of tougher protections for journalism in the Online Safety Bill.
Announced by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) this afternoon, an amendment tabled by ministers will see a new requirement for platforms to keep news articles up while under review by moderators as well as a requirement for platforms to notify news publishers and offer a right of appeal before taking any action. The Society of Editors has previously called for such safeguards to be included in the legislation.
Responding to today’s announcement, Dawn Alford, Executive Director of the Society of Editors said: “Since the publication of the Online Harms White Paper in 2019, the Society has called for broad and workable journalistic safeguards to be included on the face of online harms legislation. Today’s announcement of additional journalistic protections through a requirement for platforms to keep news articles online during any review process, notify publishers and offer them a right of appeal is welcome. These essential protections will ensure that the legislation better recognises the fast-paced nature of news and promotes transparency in the decision-making process of platforms.”
The amendment comes after media organisations, including the Society of Editors, expressed concern earlier this year upon the publication of the Bill that safeguards for journalists were not fit-for-purpose and that the Bill would likely lead to platforms being over-cautious in moderating news publishers’ content due to fear of sanctions by the regulator Ofcom.
Announcing today’s amendment, Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries said: “Our democracy depends on people’s access to high quality journalism and our world-leading internet safety law brings in tough new safeguards for freedom of speech and the press online.
“Yet we’ve seen tech firms arbitrarily remove legitimate journalism with a complete lack of transparency and this could seriously impact public discourse. These extra protections will stop that from happening.”
For further comment please contact office@societyofeditors.org
