UK Rewrites Online Safety Bill After Free Speech Backlash
- ‘Legal but harmful’ provision dropped on free speech concerns
- Ministers propose ‘triple shield’ of protections for users
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The UK government scrapped plans to define and regulate “legal but harmful speech” from the Online Safety Bill as it prepares to bring the long-awaited and controversial legislation back to Parliament next week.
Ministers axed a planned “harmful communications” offense that would have applied to social media posts sent with the intention of causing harm, resulting in “serious distress,” the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said late on Monday in a statement.