Dr Susie Alegre has written a legal opinion piece warning that the UK government's proposed nternet safety laws fail to address the root causes of online harm, while also damaging free speech.
The article was commissioned by the consumer campaign group SumOfUs.
“The Online Safety Bill is a mess and needs a total rewrite. As it stands, it offers the worst of both worlds,” Alegre said. “It not only threatens free speech, freedom of expression and privacy, but fails to do enough to tackle the real drivers of online harm, such as social media companies actively recommending posts about self-harm, which contributed to the tragic suicide of teenager Molly Russell.”
The Online Safety Bill has been presented by the government as a ground-breaking law that will protect the privacy and safety of children in the digital sphere. Former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has said it will make the UK “the safest place in the world for our children to go online...