Harm? What harm?

UK press exemption from online safety legislation is the elephant in the room that government would rather you did not notice

Adapted from French caricature of members of the Committee of Public Safety: understood to be Public Domain

Government plans to make the online world a kinder, safer space include a loophole through which you could drive a coach and horses. Not just any old horses: but several Trojan horses jam-packed with nasty consequences for public discourse and balanced debate in the UK. But that is OK…because we are talking about a near absolute freedom of speech for the press. Not anyone else.

As promised in my last outing, i will be putting the Online Safety Bill under a fine microscope. Because it is dangerous; and especially dangerous for the UK’s LGBTQ+ communities. After the general intro, a topic by topic dissection. Today we look at press exemptions.

Now read on.

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Raab says NO to Online Safety

At the weekend, intellectual powerhouse Dominic Raab was out and about promising to “protect” free speech from “wokery” by…scrapping the Human Rights’ Act. Yes: henceforth, according to Raab, the principle of free speech would be a “legal trump card”, presumably out-weighing other considerations like respect, politeness and…harm?