New amendments to the Online Safety Bill have been welcomed by Refuge, who say the changes will “make a difference for survivors of domestic abuse”.
Specifically, Regufe – the largest specialist domestic abuse organisation in the UK – welcomed the implementation of the recommendations of the organisation’s recent Marked as Unsafe report. Ruth Davison, CEO of Refuge, explained the impact:
“[The Bill] will include controlling or coercive behaviour in the list of priority offences outlined in the Bill. This change will compel social media companies to not only respond when coercive control happens on their platforms, but also to prevent it.”
Davison added it was “encouraging” to see the Victims’ Commissioner and Domestic Abuse Commissioner added to the list of statutory consultees for when Ofcom writes any new codes of practice, thus “adding in the voices of survivors at a crucial point in future regulation”, the Refuge CEO said.
Other amendments made to the Bill include a “triple shield” of protection when online: social media firms will be legally required to remove illegal content, take down material in breach of their own terms of service, and provide adults with greater choice over the content they see and engage with.
Parents and the wider public will benefit from new changes to force tech firms to publish more information about the risks their platforms pose to children so people can see what dangers sites really hold.
Firms will be made to show how they enforce their user age limits to stop kids circumventing authentication methods and they will have to publish details of when the regulator Ofcom has taken action against them.
However, according to Refuge, the work is not yet done. Specifically, the organisation said the government has “once again overlooked the urgent need for a specific VAWG Code of Practice”:
“Alongside sector partners, Refuge has drafted an oven-ready Code which would mean better protections for the thousands of women impacted by online abuse daily if added. I urge the Secretary of State to reconsider its inclusion in the Bill and demonstrate her commitment to tackling violence against women and girls online.”
Davison went on to explain just how crucial such a Code is to the protection of women and girls online:
“Without a Code specifically designed to tackle online violence against women, the ‘triple shield’ announced by the Secretary of State risks failure. User empowerment must not be seen as a substitute to robust action from social media companies – the responsibility to protect users from harm must be placed squarely with them. I’m concerned that, in order to avoid penalties, social media companies will water their terms and conditions down in a way which puts more women and girls in harm’s way.”
