London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 03, 2025

Twitter says Online Safety Bill needs more clarity

Twitter says Online Safety Bill needs more clarity

Government plans for social media regulation need "far more clarity", a Twitter boss has told the BBC.

Katy Minshall said the draft Online Safety Bill failed to answer key questions such as how to define legal but harmful material.

Instead of simply targeting those who post offensive content, the bill would put more responsibility on platforms.

The culture secretary said the bill would make the UK "the safest place in the world to be online".

Writing in the Daily Mail, Nadine Dorries said "online hate has poisoned public life, it's intolerable, it's often unbearable and it has to end".

"Enough is enough. Social media companies have no excuses. And once this bill passes through Parliament, they will have no choice."

She also said the government had decided to "re-examine how our legislation can go even further to ensure the biggest social media companies properly protect users from anonymous abuse".

Meanwhile, a senior government source said "social media giants could be acting now to stamp out abuse but instead they're out making excuses".

What is in the draft Online Safety Bill?


* Ofcom would get powers to regulate social media sites

* It would be able to force companies to have a duty of care for their users, including protecting users from legal but harmful content, such as abuse that doesn't cross the criminality threshold

* Companies who breach Ofcom rules could face fines of up to £18m

* Social media sites would also be required to moderate content from different political viewpoints equally and without discrimination

* Provisions would be introduced to tackle online scams, such as romance fraud and fake investment opportunities.

Ruth Moss, whose daughter Sophie took her own life aged 13 in 2014, is calling for social media companies to take more action to address harmful material on their platforms.

After her daughter's death, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she found numerous "deeply disturbing" images and instructions on self-harm and suicide on Sophie's phone and tablet.

Despite limiting her internet use at home, she said Sophie, who suffered from depression, was still able to use her phone on the bus or with friends and it was "impossible" for parents to know what their child was doing online all the time.

 Ruth Moss says her daughter Sophie viewed harmful content online before her death

Under the draft Online Safety Bill, the regulator Ofcom would have the power to levy fines of up to £18m or 10% of global profits, whichever is higher, on social media platforms which fail to comply with the new laws.

Ofcom would also be given the power to block services from the UK if they are deemed to present a risk of significant harm to UK citizens.

But Twitter is concerned the bill gives too much influence to the culture secretary over Ofcom.

The current draft bill would allow Ms Dorries to change the Ofcom code of practice that would be used to regulate the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

Speaking to Radio 4's Westminster Hour programme, Ms Minshall - the head of policy in the UK for Twitter - said the bill gave the minister "unusual powers", leaving Ofcom to "muddle through".

She also rejected the idea of stronger rules around online anonymity - something some MPs have campaigned for.

Conservative MP Mark Francois said people sending "horrendous abuse" online should not be allowed to "hide behind a cloak of anonymity with the connivance of the social media companies for profit".

But Ms Minshall argued that clamping down on anonymous accounts would "fail to deal with the problems of online abuse" and could damage people who rely on "pseudonymity".

"If you're a young person exploring their sexuality or you're a victim of domestic violence looking online for help and for support, pseudonymity is a really important safety tool for you."

She added that users already had to provide a date of birth, full name and email address when signing up, meaning that the police could access data about an account, even if someone had used a pseudonym.

Asked about the fines that could be levied on companies, she said such penalties were "almost existential".

In February of this year, Twitter boss Jack Dorsey said his company had experienced an "extraordinary year" in 2020, with revenues growing by 28% to $1.29bn (£930m) compared to the last quarter of 2019.

Ms Minshall said the bill had thrown up "all sorts of really important questions", such as "how do we define legal but harmful content" and "what sorts of exemptions should we make for journalistic content or content of democratic importance".

"These are questions that Parliament needs to answer," she added.

MPs and peers are currently scrutinising the draft bill and next Thursday they will hear evidence from representatives of Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube and TikTok.

Writing in the Mirror, Labour's shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens described the government's bill as "weak and ineffective", adding "it won't do the job we need it to do".

She said the government should introduce criminal sanctions against the bosses of big technology companies who repeatedly break the new laws.

She also raised concern that small companies would be subject to less stringent rules.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×