Senior cabinet minister promises not to dilute new measures despite Musk comments and Zuckerberg’s attacks on countries ‘censoring’ content

In an interview with the Observer, Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, said that the recent laws designed to make online platforms safer for children and vulnerable people would never be diluted to help the government woo big tech companies to the UK in its defining pursuit for economic growth.

His comments come as Keir Starmer prepares a major big tech charm offensive this week in which he will pitch the UK as the “sweet spot” for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

However, the prime minister will do so with his government facing constant and wild attacks from Elon Musk, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent figures and a leading Trump supporter.

Zuckerberg also used a wide-ranging statement last week to reveal he was ditching “politically biased” factcheckers and reducing restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender on Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

He added that he would “work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more”.

While he did not single out the UK, which passed the Online Safety Act last year, Zuckerberg said Europe had “an ever-increasing number of laws institutionalising censorship”.
[…]
“The threshold for these laws allows responsible free speech to a very, very high degree,” [Kyle] said. “But I just make this basic point: access to British society and our economy is a privilege – it’s not a right. And none of our basic protections for children and vulnerable people are up for negotiation.

“I was in California speaking to these companies in December. I was there in November. None of this has been challenged. There is a great deal of interest in our direction of travel. I think there is a great deal of suspicion about some countries around the world and the way that they are acting.

“But I think we have not only led the world in online safety, I think we’ve done it in a way which is sensitive and on the side of innovation.”

  • UKFilmNerd@feddit.ukEnglish
    91·
    4 days ago

    Are these the new laws that are causing small hobbyist forums to shut up shop?

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝@feddit.ukEnglish
      8·
      4 days ago

      Yeah. I’m working through the Online Safety Act (slowly) and it is set up to not be too hard for small sites to hit the requirements (most of the Fediverse should be fine) but we’ll see what the landscape looks like when the online tools are available and we approach the date (April) the law comes into effect.

      • UKFilmNerd@feddit.ukEnglish
        2·
        4 days ago

        Would the government even bother to check, for example, a Mastodon server with a thousand users? Out of interest, is there a summary or something?

        • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝@feddit.ukEnglish
          6·
          4 days ago

          Would the government even bother to check, for example, a Mastodon server with a thousand users?

          Impossible to say at this point. You may get the full Eye of Sauron treatment if something bad happens and you’ve just ignored the laws. If you demonstrate you have made an effort (and the guidelines suggest small websites need only read the summaries and use the online tools) then you have started a dialogue and, if there is an issue, it might just need a chat rather than fines.

          Out of interest, is there a summary or something?

          Best one I’ve read so far is this.

          I’ve started a Matrix space for folks on the Fediverse dealing with British issues like this and there is an OSA room where I’ll add more resources as they pop up on my radar.

          I’ll also be reaching out to Admins of specifically British instances on the Fediverse too. We can probably pool our thoughts and not have to keep reinventing the wheel.

          I have a freer week coming up and hope to make more progress on this.