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LONDON — Britain said on Friday it had tightened protections in its Online Safety Bill that will prevent children from viewing pornography in an update to long-delayed legislation that is being closely watched by the tech industry.
Under the government’s latest amendments after debates in parliament, Britain will set higher standards for age verification tools used by services that publish or allow porn on their platforms, to ensure they are effective in establishing whether a user is a child.
Britain, like the European Union and other countries, has been grappling over how to protect social media users, and in particular children, from harmful content without damaging free speech.
New measures will also seek to hold top executives personally responsible for keeping children safe on their platforms, the government said, after agreeing to toughen the bill in January with the prospect of jail time for tech bosses.
“This government will not allow the lives of our children to be put at stake whenever they go online; whether that is through facing abuse or viewing harmful content that could go on to have a devastating impact on their lives,” Paul Scully, minister for tech and the digital economy, said.
“To prevent any further tragedy and build a better future for our children, we are acting robustly and with urgency to make the Online Safety Bill the global standard for protecting our children.”
Other changes to the bill will allow regulators to obtain information on a child’s social media use if requested by a coroner, which will help bereaved families understand any possible influence of online activity in their death.
The tech industry including firms like Apple have criticised sections of the Online Safety Bill, particularly provisions that could be used to make messaging services break end-to-end encryption in order scan for child abuse material.
The bill, which is possibly months away from being passed, is currently at parliament’s upper House of Lords where lawmakers can make amendments before deciding whether to pass or reject it.
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