A proposal introduced in Britain’s House of Lords would require social-media companies operating in the United Kingdom to obtain a government-issued license from communications regulator Ofcom. Under the Social Media Platforms (Ofcom Licensing) Bill, operating an unlicensed platform accessible to UK users would become a criminal offense, potentially carrying fines and, in some circumstances, imprisonment of up to two years. Ofcom could attach conditions to licenses lasting up to ten years and consider a company’s previous violations when deciding whether to renew them. The proposal is still at a very early stage: Baroness Floella Benjamin introduced the private member’s bill on September 7, its first reading involved no substantive debate or vote, and its second reading has not yet been scheduled. It is therefore not current government policy and is far from becoming law.
What makes the legislation noteworthy is the authority it proposes giving Ofcom over online platforms. License holders would have to take “reasonable and proportionate” steps to ensure content complies with UK law, minimize materially false or misleading information, provide information concerning the identity and authenticity of people publishing content, and remove or restrict material identified by Ofcom as harmful. If a company violated the requirements, Ofcom could issue warnings, demand corrective action, suspend its license, or revoke it altogether. Following revocation, Ofcom could ask a court to order internet providers to block access to the platform inside Britain. Supporters can point to genuine problems involving fraud, incitement, misinformation, foreign interference, and harmful online content; critics, however, are likely to focus on the breadth of terms such as “harmful” and “public interest” and on placing licensing authority over major channels of public communication in the hands of a regulator.