Dear Constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about the Online Safety Bill.

This legislation is being brought forward to help make the UK the safest place in the world to go online, ensuring we protect our most vulnerable citizens from harm.  

As set out in the draft Online Safety Bill, new expectations will be placed on companies to keep their users safe online. Under the new legislation, social media giants will need to be clear about what content is acceptable on their services, and enforce these rules consistently and transparently. This will also prevent them from arbitrarily banning any user for expressing an offensive or controversial viewpoint. Furthermore, if users feel like they’ve been treated unfairly, they’ll be able to seek redress from the company.

It is worth noting that ministers have added new measures to the Bill to safeguard freedom of expression and democracy, ensuring necessary online protections do not lead to unnecessary censorship. I fully support this approach, which will not only help to minimise the presence of illegal content in the first place, but also reduce the time for which any such content is present and its dissemination.

I have the utmost confidence that the Bill will face the rigorous scrutiny required, both in draft form and once presented to the House, to ensure its objectives are fully realised. I also understand that a review will take place at least two years after the new regulatory regime is fully operational.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

Yours,

EDWARD LEIGH MP