Prime minister Theresa May has confirmed the UK will look to create a new ‘legal liability’ that could see Facebook, Google, Twitter and other leading tech firms fined if they don’t remove “unacceptable content” from their websites.
In a brief statement issued by the Prime Minister’s office, May says the UK has formed a partnership with France to “tackle online radicalisation”.
The statement says the two countries aim to take “much stronger action against tech companies that fail to remove unacceptable content”.
“The UK and France will work together to encourage corporations to do more and abide by their social responsibility to step up their efforts to remove harmful content from their networks, including exploring the possibility of creating a new legal liability for tech companies if they fail to remove unacceptable content,” May says.
The legal liability would include the potential for firms to be fined if they don’t remove questionable content.
May adds that the UK government will keep working with technology companies and wants to help them develop “tools” that can “identify and remove harmful material automatically”.
The announcement follows multiple suggestions from May and Conservative Party colleagues that “cyberspace” should be regulated.
In the build-up to the June snap general election and following both the Manchester and London Bridge terror attacks, May said there should be no “safe space” for those planning terror attacks to talk online.