U.K. Adds Anti-‘Censorship’ Clause to Online Safety Bill
- Protections for ‘democratic content’ added to draft law
- Platforms like Facebook and Twitter to be regulated by Ofcom
This article is for subscribers only.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is creating protections for political speech as part of legislation which will give Britain sweeping legal powers to regulate content online.
The biggest web platforms like Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. will be “forbidden from discriminating against particular political viewpoints and will need to apply protections equally to a range of political opinions, no matter their affiliation,” the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said in a statement on Wednesday describing the draft Online Safety Bill.