Ministers consider concessions after rebel Tories demand jail for tech executives over online harms
Changes to online safety bill could make named directors responsible for ensuring their companies complied with new laws to protect children
Ministers are preparing to offer concessions to Tory rebels seeking new online safety laws that would enable social media bosses to be jailed if they fail to protect children from online harms.
They are understood to be considering new legal duties that would make named directors at tech firms responsible for ensuring their companies complied with new online safety laws.
However, it was unclear on Thursday night whether they would bow to backbench demands for executives to be held criminally liable which would mean they could be prosecuted by the new watchdog Ofcom and jailed for up to two years.
Some 44 Tory MPs - including at least 10 former ministers - have now backed the rebel amendment to the online safety bill, sufficient to overturn Rishi Sunak’s Commons 67-strong majority and to inflict his first Commons defeat.
Rebel leaders indicated on Thursday night that they would force a vote next Tuesday when the bill returns to the Commons if the Government failed to back up any new legal duties on directors with criminal sanctions. “Criminal liability is a red line,” said one MP.
Tech bosses would be held personally liable
The change in the law would hold tech bosses criminally and personally liable for breaches of their company’s duty to protect children from online harms such as content promoting suicide or self-harm and child abuse. They could be brought before a court and prosecuted with a maximum of two years in jail if found guilty.
The current plans limit sanctions to fines worth up to 10 per cent of a firm's global turnover, equivalent to £9.7 billion for Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp. Criminal sanctions would only apply if company directors refused to cooperate with any Ofcom investigation into potential breaches.
The proposals - drawn up by Tory MPs Miriam Cates and Sir Bill Cash - are backed by former ministers including Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, Priti Patel, former home secretary and Andrea Leadsom, the former business secretary.
Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly, 14, took her life after being bombarded with graphic self-harm and suicide content online, gave his support on Thursday.
“At Molly’s inquest the world saw the scale of the incredibly distressing content she was exposed to as a vulnerable girl suffering from mental ill health. Still no-one has taken any personal responsibility for how social media contributed to her death.
“Including Senior Manager Liability in the Online Safety Bill is an opportunity to stop this from happening again and focus tech bosses’ minds to ensure their platforms are safe online spaces for children to be.
“I urge the Culture Secretary and the Prime Minister to listen to campaigners and a growing number of their own MPs and accept this crucial amendment to the proposed legislation.”
Tech bosses have mounted a major lobbying campaign in recent days, warning that criminal sanctions could deter investment by tech firms in the UK.
“The proposed changes may lead to founders, smaller organisations and venture capital choosing not to operate or invest in the UK as they run this risk of criminal prosecution,” a lobbyist for the trade association TechUK has told MPs.
It is understood ministers are weighing the option of facing down the rebels but are also considering concessions including making named directors responsible for specific duties to comply with online safety to “drive culture change.” They would not, however, be held liable for non-compliance under this option.
Another proposal would require platforms to have a named officer who could be held responsible if the company provided false information to the National Crime Agency (NCA) on child sexual exploitation reports.
A third option could resurrect a proposal by a joint committee of MPs and peers where a senior manager would be liable for a new offence of failing to comply with their duties to protect users, allowing “repeated and systemic” failings that resulted in significant risk of harm.
It is thought no decision has yet been taken on any concessions. If they are offered, they are likely to be introduced when the bill is considered by the Lords from February 1.