NDA Online Safety Bill Draft
Lacking Impact: Why the Online Safety Bill should be taking a different approach
As technology plays an ever greater part in all our lives it is essential that more is done to protect users. WhistleblowersUK welcomes proposals contained in the new The Online Safety Bill to reforming protection to the public in the UK by updating rules on digital communication and assigning a duty of care to tech giants. These new duties will replace the existing flimsy regulations that currently allow trolls to shield behind inadequate security policies. The Online Safety Bill creates a new offence criminalising "harmful communications" exemplified in the context of existing offences such as harassment and stalking. This is a significant improvement not only protecting the public but also empowering the courts to prosecute with confidence. Most people believe that these practices are already illegal. Currently UK law is complex and difficult to understand. For a message to meet the threshold of an offence it must be, “A message which is indecent or grossly offensive; a threat; or information which is false and known or believed to be false by the sender.” This would appear to cover repetitive threats, but the law goes on to say, “the threat was used to reinforce a demand made by him on reasonable grounds.” Given the precedents we’ve seen at tribunal its likely companies would successfully argue reasonable grounds, such as enforcing a confidentiality agreement. Many whistleblowers are confused and frustrated by this law which allows abuse.
Stopping online abuse of Whistleblowers
One of the most widely reported concerns by whistleblowers is the systematic and organised campaigns of targeted harassment designed to silence and discredit them. It is typical for whistleblowers to be monitored, scrutinised and objectified as wrongdoers. We have witnessed whistleblowers being aggressively trolled, reminded of NDA agreements, and the penalty for breaching them - in some cases many years after signing. Others are systematically harassed to the point of exhaustion and self harm by the nameless faceless keyboard warriors deterring others from speaking out. This Online Safety Bill provides an opportunity to drastically increase protection of whistleblowers by making the aggressive and intrusive use of social media platforms to conduct hate campaigns an offence. This protection will encourage speaking up and greater public safety.
