The Lost Clause – Exploring the potential impact of amendments to the definition of harm to children in the UK’s Online Safety Bill
We’re thrilled to announce that Ellie Colegate (2021 cohort) has recently published an article in Communications Law [August, 2024]. This piece builds on the insightful presentation Ellie delivered at the ILPC Conference Nov 2022, where they explored the evolving regulatory framework of the UK’s Online Safety Bill.
Brief Summary of Article: This paper explores two Clauses of the UK’s Online Safety Regulations, which are crucial to identifying and removing content that can potentially harm children if they interact with it online. By focusing on the changes and developments made to two key sections of the regulations – that which describes content that will be harmful and the understanding of harm for the purposes of the regulations – this paper assesses the likelihood of the provisions being effective in practice at reducing the harm experienced by young people as a consequence of online interactions. Comparing the wording of regulations to the reported experiences of young people to illustrate where problems and challenges could occur in practice, this paper presents pragmatic solutions and areas for further development and clarification going forward.
