Online platforms terms and conditions + online reputation management: Impact of the Online Safety Bill 2022
Online Content Marketing
Online reputation management and eBusiness terms and conditions.
So you own and manage an online digital platform. You need to deal with content-related issues on your platform, including damage to the online reputation of third parties.
This article is about a proposed new law which will be very important in addressing online reputation management issues and will make essential changes to your website terms and conditions necessary.
In its 2019 general election manifesto, the Conservative Party made the following pledge:
"We will legislate to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online – protecting children from online abuse and harms, protecting the most vulnerable from accessing harmful content, and ensuring there is no safe space for terrorists to hide online – but at the same time defending freedom of expression and in particular recognising and defending the invaluable role of a free press."
In May 2022, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Rt Hon Nadine Dorries MP, introduced the Online Safety Bill (March Version) and Online Safety Bill (April Version). In its current draft format, the Online Safety Bill (OSB) proposes the introduction of sweeping changes to how online tech firms are held accountable for material hosted on their platforms. The overall intention of the OSB is to improve safety for people using the internet and hold firms responsible for failing to ensure adequate measures to protect users of online services by effective policing of users’ conduct and preventing users from being exposed to harmful material.
It is, of course, essential to note that the Government must walk a fine line in this area. The Government must balance the right to privacy with the importance of preserving the right to freedom of speech.
What is the Online Safety Bill Trying to Achieve?
The OSB seeks to address the misuse of Internet sites like Patreon, Facebook, Twitter, and other Internet platforms for antisocial, wrongful or illegal activity that can sometimes be criminal or quasi-criminal.
Material available on Internet platforms that cause concern include:
1. Spreading lies and insults about others either through personal vendetta or to gain a competitive advantage in a business context. This category includes online bullying, and defamation.
2. The theft of the intellectual property of others, including its use online. This includes copyright and trademark infringement.
3. Online defamation is a significant practice area for my firm, and it deserves to be mentioned twice. The issues here include false libellous statements that cause injury to others.
4. Non-consensual pornographic images posted online – so-called revenge porn.
5. Identity theft includes harassment, defamation, malicious falsehoods and fraud.
6. Extortion includes blackmail.
7. The right to be forgotten. This is part of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). There is also the UKGDPR.
The OSB considers new issues that have arisen in the online world, such as terrorism, including the radicalisation of people via online via social media or accessing terrorist-related material readily available on search engines. Similarly, there remains concern about the prevalence of "fake news" that causes unwarranted fear and panic and the potential interference in democracy and elections arising through online platforms.
The Government also proposes limiting the risks of online scams. Many younger social media users have suffered from misleading or false advertising by celebrities on social media. The Advertising Standards Authority have sought to clamp down on this in recent years, and there have been instances of stars being rebuked for engaging in false or misleading advertising. However, there is still room for improvement.
There has also been an increase in the intensity and number of so-called online "trolls" who post hateful and abusive content anonymously. This increase is partly fuelled by tech companies generally making it difficult to obtain account data to identify these trolls.
The Online Safety Bill seeks to hold tech companies more accountable for their users' conduct and the material it allows to be accessible via their platforms.
We respect your privacy
Right to privacy v freedom of speech.
“The two things I want you to take away are that you need to be aware of the several laws used to solve online reputation problems, whether you are a victim or a third-party online platform provider. The other matter is the relationship between your terms and conditions, online reputation, and safety .”
Although the Online Safety Bill is some considerable way off receiving royal assent, likely, a great deal of the changes proposed will eventually become law. There is, therefore, likely to be a significant clamour by providers to ensure that they are compliant with the new legislative changes and avoid the risk of prosecution and sanction.
In its current format, the Bill's proposed measures are mainly sensible – the lack of accountability for tech companies for the behaviour of those that use their platforms has increasingly been drawn into the limelight. However, several significant grey areas within the draft legislation will need to be addressed for the law to become effective.
My law firm will be able to assist businesses and individuals in 2 ways: (1) By assisting businesses and individuals with reputation management challenges. (2) By drafting compliant terms and conditions for businesses' online platforms now and effectively monitor the OSB as it progresses through Parliament and identify any proposed changes or redrafts to the legislation. This will allow businesses to receive accurate and up to date advice on what any such changes will mean in practice. My firm will be able to advise businesses on how to interpret the new legislation and what steps need to be taken to accommodate changes.
Tech companies will likely need to conduct a wholesale review of their processes and ensure that they can implement the necessary mechanisms for identifying and reporting concerns to OFCOM and responding to instances where users behave in ways that could render them in breach of the proposed legislation.
Engaging my firm's services will allow businesses to ensure that they have appropriately detailed terms and conditions and internal policies and procedures to provide the notification requirements and definitions of acceptable and unacceptable conduct for users.
My firm will assist businesses in conducting a thorough review of their current policies in respect of harmful and illegal content and identify areas that will require updating to reflect the new legislation once finalised and mitigate exposure to regulatory action and sanction.
Businesses should also be looking to conduct initial risk assessments in respect of their platforms and conduct thereon to ascertain the extent of harmful and illegal content (or risk thereof) on their platforms, the ability that such content can be shared and also the potential likelihood of users (and in particular children) encountering such harmful content when using the platform (as these will likely be the critical factors in determining the service provider's approach to compliance and the position to be adopted by the regulator in future).
A review undertaken by businesses with my firm's help should consider what additional technical aspects of their platforms may require changes to ensure compliance with the new laws – this will almost certainly necessitate a review of existing content monitoring tools and procedures in place and consideration of what is proportionate in terms of implementation of additional tools and procedures given the size and nature of the platform and its user base.
Secure your content
Make your processes and content legally compliant.
Action
The two things I want you to take away are that you need to be aware of the several laws used to solve online reputation problems, whether you are a victim or a third-party online platform provider. The other matter is the relationship between your terms and conditions, online reputation, and safety. If you have questions about those laws, including the OSB and how we can help you feel free to give us a call. I am always happy to advise online platforms and other stakeholders in reputation management-related cases. The businesses that win are the ones that stay ahead of the curve in how they operate and account for those who use their services.