Liz Truss confirms changes to Online Safety Bill

New Prime Minister Liz Truss has confirmed that her government will make changes to contentious online safety proposals, after strong criticism from civil liberties groups.

The Online Safety Bill has been described as a "censor's charter" by some critics, given its heavy-handed approach toward freedom of expression in the online world.

Controversial aspects of the Bill target "legal but harmful" expression by internet users, a term that has been criticised as over-vague by legal experts.

Following a series of criticisms, including by backbench Tory MPs, Ms Truss has said she will amend the legislation to better-protect free expression.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions last week, the Prime Minister said there are "some issues that we need to deal with" before it proceeds through parliament.

"What I want to make sure is we protect the under-18s from harm, but we also make sure free speech is allowed, so there may be some tweaks required,” she said.

CARE has argued consistently for free expression to be protected in public and online, whilst protecting children from exposure to things that will objectively harm them.

In the last few months, colleagues have lobbied the UK Government to ditch legal but harmful provisions in the Online Safety Bill and focus on protecting children from pornography.

To find out more about our work in this area, visit out cause page: Online Safety | CARE