To the relief of social media giants including Google, Facebook and Twitter, the long-awaited online safety bill, has been postponed until the United Kingdom’s political future stabilizes.

The intention is that the bill will hold social platforms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter accountable for enabling online abuse and failing to negate its effects. The draft legislation covers content including terrorism, racist abuse and threats to harm an individual. Its proposed that organisations that fail to comply with the bill could see fines of up to 10 percent of their annual global turnover.

Many argue the bill contradicts freedom of expression while others are more concerned with the lack of clarity and the complexity of the bill. What’s certain is that the tech industry isn’t in favour of the notion.

The bill acts as a pioneer and onlookers from across the globe look to it for guidance as they begin to draft their own versions. Rightly so too, as the world evolves, we must adapt and as a society we owe a duty of care to future generations to create safe spaces in which they can grow and live. It’s estimated that 44% of internet users have experienced online abuse of some kind, so we delved deeper to see which platforms perpetuated this behaviour the most.

High risk social sites

  1. Youtube – reports suggest that 79% of users experience online abuse
  2. Snapchat – Reports suggest that 69% of users experience online abuse
  3. Tiktok – Reports suggest that 64% of users experience online abuse
  4. Facebook – Reports suggest that 49% of users experience online abuse

The impact of online abuse

Data driven insights confirm there is a correlation between social media usage and the increase in depression and suicidality. It’s of paramount importance that children are safeguarded as there are strong links to online abuse inducing:

  • Anxiety
  • Self-harm
  • Eating disorders
  • Suicidal thoughts

The NSPCC offers a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the impacts of online abuse and how you can play your part to limit its impact. Whether you’re a parent, brother, sister, neighbour or friend, checkout what you can do to help your community via the NSPCC’s online safety training.

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