Ministers have told platforms including Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok they must not restrict access to posts that express lawfully held views.
The warning, in an apparent change of tone from ministers, comes amid a backlash over websites blocking users from viewing material, including parliamentary debates about grooming gangs.
Campaigners have said that free speech is threatened by the Government’s application of the Online Safety Act, which is meant to protect children from harmful content.
J.D. Vance, the US Vice President, used a visit to the UK this week to warn ministers against going down the “dark path” of censorship.
Whitehall sources have expressed concern that social media firms, some of which have criticised the law, “have been overzealous” in enforcing it and must be “mindful” of the right to freedom of expression.
The Science Department, which oversees the legislation, told companies they could face fines if they failed to uphold free speech rules. …
Mr Vance directly challenged the Government on its attitude towards freedom of expression on Friday when he visited David Lammy at Chevening house.
Ahead of a meeting with the Foreign Secretary, Mr Vance said the West had become “too comfortable with censoring” rather than engaging with other opinions.
His comments are the latest sign that Donald Trump’s administration is increasingly concerned about freedom of speech in the UK.
Lord Young of Acton, the founder of the Free Speech Union, said Labour’s threat to fine social media firms should be seen in the light of US pressure.
He said: “This feels performative to me. An attempt to reassure J.D. Vance that the British Government takes free speech seriously.
“In reality, the free speech duties under the Act are a joke and the chances of Ofcom fining a social media firm for failing to comply with them are vanishing to zero.”
Lord Young said that the legislation included powers to compel certain platforms not to remove content that was journalistic or of democratic importance.
He urged Peter Kyle, the Science Secretary, to “get on” with triggering them by deciding which service providers should be put into the top risk category.
Worth reading in full.
Richard Eldred is an Associate Editor of the Daily Sceptic. He spent close to two decades working in broadcast journalism in Hong Kong before returning to the U.K. in 2022. This article was first published HERE
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