Following high-profile criticism of social media, the British government has unveiled plans for effective internet regulation to make it a safer place for the young.
A policy paper said plans are afoot to make individual executives personally liable for harmful content published on their internet platforms.
"For too long these companies have not done enough to protect users, especially children and young people, from harmful content," Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement.
An independent regulator—to be funded by media companies—will be appointed to police the social media companies that include Facebook and search engines such as Google. It's likely that Ofcom will officiate as the regulator till a new body takes charge.
Hefty fines will be imposed on companies that breach 'duty of care' and those who refuses to remove "abhorrent violent material" from their platforms. The regulator is expected to issue codes of practice that include appointment of fact-checkers and releasing of annual transparency reports.
The proposed law will cover firms that allow users to share user generated content or interact with each other online
Experts have been demanding stringent legislation after the death of British teenager Molly Russell who took her own life in 2017. Following her death, Instagram had admitted that the company had not done enough to deal with self-harm content on its social network and promised necessary action.
The government is expected to release the details of its new statutory duty of care in a white paper on online harm on Monday.
