I welcome the Government’s acceptance of 66 recommendations made by the Joint Committee working on the draft Online Safety Bill of which I am a member, which will go part of the way to making the internet a safer place for UK citizens, but significant gaps still remain in reducing harmful content online.

Following months of work from the Joint Committee, the Government has agreed to make changes to the draft online safety bill and introduce a revised Online Safety Bill into the House of Commons on Thursday.

From July to December 2021, the Joint Committee worked on the draft Online Safety Bill which received over 200 pieces of written evidence, and took over 50 hours of oral testimony from witnesses including, footballer Rio Ferdinand, Facebook whistle-blowers Frances Haugen and Sophie Zhang, Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa, Molly Russell’s father Ian Russell, and Secretary of State Nadine Dorries.

Whilst I do welcome the acceptance of the 66 recommendations, the Government has made the process much more difficult than it needs to be by delaying publication of the Bill and they have ignored many of our key recommendations, which is worrying.

For example, I’m concerned that the Bill will not do enough to protect children from being lured into abuse, nor will it give the regulator enough teeth to properly regulate the relationship between tech firms and people. I’m also very concerned that the issue of online disinformation, which threatens our freedoms as a democracy, is inadequate.

I will continue to work alongside colleagues, across the political divide, to strengthen this Bill during its passage through the Commons. Specific areas in which I believe the Bill falls short are:

• The central recommendation of the Joint Committee that it be simplified and have an overarching duty of care/set of objectives from Ofcom has been rejected
• The system of categorisation remains the same, meaning smaller platforms which pose high risks of harm will not be covered by many of the duties in the Bill
• Major reforms needed for child protection have not been fully addressed, including cross-platform risks, ‘breadcrumbing’ and upstream harm disruption
• The Bill has not accepted recommendations for criminal liability for repeated and systematic failing resulting in serious harm to users
• Recommendations around addressing the root drivers of disinformation have not been accepted