UK online safety law

[paulrbarnard]

Yes seen there is another thread started yesterday. Ignore this one


Mods, what is the forums position in U.K. Online Safety Law? Is U.K. Workshop, being US owned, subject to this?

A quick scan of the legislation suggests it would be subject as it is targeted at the U.K. if it is it seems some of the off-topic2 chats would be problematic.

 

[Jake]

if it is it seems some of the off-topic2 chats would be problematic.

That seems like scaremongering to me - which specific threads do you think contravene that list of problematic content.

 

[paulrbarnard]

That seems like scaremongering to me - which specific threads do you think contravene that list of problematic content.

There are many examples of comments around gender, race, politics, wars. All those topics could fall into the areas of interest to the act if someone has an issue with what’s posted. The problem is the site has a number of hoops to jump through to comply and it only takes one complaint to Ofcom to result in a lot of work for the site owners. This is a shades of grey/opinion based act not a clearly worded guidance on what is OK vs illegal.

 

[Jake]

There are many examples of comments around gender, race, politics, wars. All those topics could fall into the areas of interest to the act if someone has an issue with what’s posted. The problem is the site has a number of hoops to jump through to comply and it only takes one complaint to Ofcom to result in a lot of work for the site owners. This is a shades of grey/opinion based act not a clearly worded guidance on what is OK vs illegal.

This is all being really hysterically overblown (no doubt with some PR backing from big tech who really want to avoid responsibility for this). The harms this is aimed at are serious ones which wouldn't be tolerated in OTII or anywhere else here.