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.
Politicians around the world are trying to stamp out fake news online but at what cost to freedom of expression?
[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 proposals in the government’s recently released online harms white paper. The white paper has raised...
The Digital Economy Act 2017 has the potential to pose a severe threat to the anonymity of people in the UK.
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.
According to leaked details, it will include a statutory duty of care, which will be enforced by a regulator. Ofcom is expected to take on the role of regulator to begin, with a new regulator established later.
Winner of the 2019 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Digital Activism Award, Fundación Karisma is a civil society organisation fighting for digital rights in Colombia.
Index on Censorship has joined with Open Rights Group and Digital Rights Partners to warn the UK government that its proposals for tackling online content pose a real risk to freedom of expression.