Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative administration has promised to amend the Online Safety Bill to introduce prison sentences for managers that fail to protect children from online harm.
The proposal was pushed for by nearly 50 Conservative MPs, with the backing of the Labour Party.
The much-delayed Online Safety Bill has been presented by the government as a ground-breaking law that will target online racism, sexual abuse, bullying, fraud and other harmful material often found on the internet.
In its original form, the bill gave regulators wide-ranging powers to sanction digital and social media companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. However, it has been significantly watered down in revisions over the past year.
Under the new amendment, the government is expected to target executives who ignore enforcement notices from Ofcom, the communications regulator, in relation to breaches of their child safety duties, which include...