Index joined 52 other civil society organisations as well as private companies and security researchers in calling on governments to allow technology companies to offer strong encryption tools such as Signal or WhatsApp to the public.
The proposals in the online harms white paper risk damaging freedom of expression in the UK, and abroad if other countries follow the UK’s example, Index on Censorship said in its response to the government’s consultation.
UK government must engage all stakeholders to map the way forward on online content regulations
Under pressure to be seen to be doing something, the UK government has rushed out the proposals in the online harms white paper without thinking through the consequences.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Social media platforms have enormous influence over what we see and how we see it. We should all be concerned...
We write to you as civil society organisations who work to promote human rights, both offline and online. As such, we are taking a keen interest in the ICO’s Age Appropriate Design Code.
We consider that, in order to mitigate these concerns, it is of utmost importance that the European Commission and Member States engage in a constructive transposition and implementation to ensure that the fears around automated upload filters are not realized.
“The UK’s response to our Council of Europe alert lacks concrete details about how government proposals dealing with online harms will not damage media freedom and the public’s right to information,” said Joy Hyvarinen, head of advocacy, Index on Censorship.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship has filed an official alert with the Council of Europe about risks to media freedom in...
While we recognise the government’s desire to tackle unlawful content online, the proposals mooted in the white paper – including a new duty of care on social media platforms, a regulatory body, and even the fining and banning of social media platforms as a sanction – pose serious risks to freedom of expression online.