Back in July 2019, I remember sitting on Brighton Beach reading through a new government consultation white paper called the ‘Digital Online Harms Bill’. I guess it might seem like an odd environment to be reading through such a heavy weight document, one which ran into several hundred pages, but it’s a place that I visit when I need to think and realign my head in a way that roughly resembles sense and order. It was touted as being a major step forward to ensure that social media companies, such as Facebook and Twitter, were held accountable for the removal of harmful content, such as cyber bullying and child image abuse.
Whilst it wasn’t the ultimate answer to all instances of online based abuse, it was definitely an overdue step in the right direction.
In July this year, and in an announcement that was overshadowed by Covid-19, I was saddened to learn that the introduction of new laws, as a result of the white paper, could be delayed until 2023/2024. Lord David Puttnam, Chair of the Lords Democracy and Digital Committee made the announcement after a government minister failed to offer any reassurances that the bill would be passed in the 2020/2021 parliamentary year. To provide some background to the white paper, it was announced after 14-year-old Molly Russell committed suicide after viewing online images of ‘self-harm’.
It saddens me that our inept (UK) government seems utterly incapable of grasping the value of this bill, and you would think that given the very real and palpable increase in the number of reported Image Abuse cases, as seen during 2020, that they would be more empathic towards the growing threat that social media and web based technology represents to both young and old alike. Image Based Abuse is NOT something that effects a select few, it affects all of us, and it will be a part of our global online future for many decades to come…perhaps indefinitely. The sooner governments wake up and smell the technological coffee the better. To use a much-overused turn of phrase, particularly of late, things will get worse…before they get any better – if left unchecked.
I’m still hopeful that the Law Commission review, specifically into Image Based Sexual Abuse and Revenge Porn, will fare a little better…but in all honesty and given the disappointing turn of events associated with the Online Harms Bill, which it is heavily associated with, it’s difficult to see any light at the end of the tunnel…other than a fading flicker!
In previous posts, and blogs, I’ve always said that the mindset has to change regarding Image Abuse. Molly Russell’s story should act as a reminder that Image Abuse is not black and white, there are shades of grey in the multiplicity of how harmful and damaging online content can be, and the devastating effects that it bestows on both victims and their families.
Children of the 21st Century are growing up with a torrid online environment, and unless we show an appetite for changing the future, they will inherit these issues as adults and so will their children, and their children’s children. It’s no different from racial hatred or other forms of abuse that plague societies ability to move forward. I feel that we’re quite selective when it comes to our understanding of what ‘abuse’ is. Racial violence and abuse is quite rightly universally abhorred, and we fight and campaign to remove it from society. And yet when it comes to other forms of abuse, unless it’s something physical, society fails to understand it. The mindset that needs to change is that abuse is abuse, whether it is physical, spoken, or in the format of an image. The internet seems to admonish itself of blame by playing the ‘freedom of speech’ card, usually whenever technology companies need to deflect blame. How can it possibly be considered as being ‘freedom of speech’ when an online act puts lives at risk? Or in the case of Molly Russell, takes a life away? I wonder how many lives, across the globe, have been lost to Image Abuse generally? I suspect if the data were available it would be a sobering thought. The delay to the governments white paper will offer the parents of Molly Russell no sense of comfort, and it should worry parents generally. Online harms come in all shapes and forms, non-consensual sexual image sharing, which I primarily discuss, is merely just one of them.
Whilst I realise that I will never see the type of change, that I would dearly love to see, regarding this issue, in my own lifetime…it would be reassuring to know that the world is at least progressing in the right direction. Sadly, there seems to be little evidence that it is - which is a heart wrenching feeling. One perhaps that we should not dwell upon but acknowledge at the very least.
You can read more about the delay to the bill here :-
And read about the white paper proposal itself here :-
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/online-harms-white-paper/online-harms-white-paper
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