Big Tech CEOs are among the most powerful people on Earth. And they should be, considering how they basically control much of the world's technological resources. But with this new UK bill, they're not going to be so invincible any time soon.
Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers his speech during the VivaTech (Viva Technology) trade fair in Paris, on May 24, 2018. (Photo by GERARD JULIEN / AFP)
Yahoo reports that the latest revisions to the legislation, called the Online Safety Bill, would enable tech CEOs to be sent to prison faster if they don't comply with new Internet content regulations that focus on user safety. For one, the head executives could be held criminally liable if they don't cooperate with information requests from regulators within two months.
Before the revisions were introduced, this was set to two years. As you can see, that's more than enough time for shady characters to do everything to keep their business under wraps.
Aside from that, the bill (which was first published back in May of last year) will also look to control how the likes of social media companies respond to problematic content.
Overall, the UK government wants to "de-risk" internet platforms by tackling both legal and illegal harmful content on the web. This includes something as serious as terrorism or even organized online scan rings, as well as curbing harmful practices such as trolling.
The bill's statutes don't stop there, however. The regulator, called Ofcom, will also have the power to hold senior executives criminally liable for destroying evidence, providing fake information, and even obstructing regulators whenever they enter company offices, according to CNBC.
In the past, the UK government has been at the mercy of Big Tech CEOs who simply just don't want to cooperate. Among the most notorious is Facebook/Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, who notably snubbed the UK parliament's calls to testify to a committee tasked with investigating online misinformation, as reported by TechCrunch.
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Big Tech And 'Legal But Harmful' Content
As much as one would hate to say this, but a lot of harmful online content that causes widespread problems these days is perfectly legal. And perhaps that's the one big issue that the new UK Online Safety Bill tries to address.
In this photo illustration, social media apps are seen on a mobile phone on July 29, 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey. Turkey's parliament passed a new law Wednesday, to regulate social media content. The law will require foreign social media companies to have an appointed Turkish-based representative to deal with any concerns authorities have over content.
By now, you should know how a good chunk of content on popular social media platforms (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, etc) have led to many people, mostly teenagers, developing major mental health problems.
This is even more pronounced considering how widespread the use of these platforms are. Data from CyberCrew.uk reveals that there are 53 million active social media users in the UK-a massive 77.9% of the entire country's population. And all of them are constantly exposed to so-called legal but harmful content almost every day-content that range between talking about things like suicide, potentially fatal "challenges" (i.e. TikTok) and almost everything in between.
For now, it remains to be seen what the UK parliament intends to do with the bill in the coming days.
Related Article: Big Tech And Declining Mental Health: Should They Be Held Liable?
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
