Tech giants face multi-billion pound fines for failing to protect children online

New duty of care laws to protect children from online harms will be unveiled on Wednesday as one of the first Bills to be published from the Queen's Speech.

Social media firms will face multi-billion pound fines of up to 10 per cent of their turnover for breaches of the laws which are designed to protect users, and children in particular - from sexual abuse, terrorists and other online harms.

The Government has also introduced a new requirement to ensure that freedom of expression and material of “democratic importance” are protected online.

Announcing the plans, the Queen said: “My Government will lead the way in ensuring internet safety for all, especially for children, whilst harnessing the benefits of a free, open and secure internet.”

The draft bill follows a campaign by The Telegraph for duty of care laws to combat online harms, and a Conservative manifesto commitment to make the UK “the safest place in the world to be online”.

The legislation will place a duty of care on companies to improve the safety of their users online by tackling illegal content and protecting children from harmful content and activity.

Last year, the Government confirmed that Ofcom will have powers to impose fines of up to £18 million or 10 per cent of global turnover – whichever is greater – and to shut down firms that fail to remove child abuse, terrorism or suicide content from their sites by blocking their access to UK users.

It has, however, stopped short of immediately introducing criminal sanctions against named directors whose companies failed to comply with the duty of care, as demanded by children’s charities and campaigners including the NSPCC.

Instead, these will be held back as “reserve” powers that will be marshalled against the tech giants if they fail to clean up their acts or do not allow Ofcom access to their algorithms, which have been blamed for promoting harmful content to children.

All online companies of any size that have user-generated content will face the toughest sanctions of fines and blocking for failing to stop illegal content.

However, the Government has proposed a tiered approach for “legal but harmful” content, such as bullying, with the biggest firms – Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter – in category one.

They will be expected to abide by terms and conditions agreed with the regulator to bar any content that could cause “significant physical or psychological harm to adults” and publish reports to demonstrate the steps taken to tackle online harms.

The Government expects Ofcom to “prioritise enforcement action where children’s safety has been compromised” and boost resilience to disinformation through media literacy and research.

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will introduce tougher sentences for serious offences, give police new powers to stop disruptive protests and modernise the courts system.

There will be longer sentences for crimes including rape, manslaughter and wounding by ending the automatic release at the halfway point, a doubling in the maximum terms for assaulting emergency workers to two years.

Illegal migrants will be denied the right to settle in the UK even if they are granted asylum under a Borders Bill intended to crack down on people-smuggling. Only those who come to the UK through legitimate routes will be entitled to indefinite leave to remain.

The Bill will also create a new expanded one-stop process to ensure that asylum, human rights claims and any other claims are considered upfront at the start of the process, “ending the cycle of limitless appeals”.

There will be a new independent age-checking agency to stop adult migrants pretending to be children, and people-smugglers will face life terms rather than the current maximum of 14 years.

A Telecommunications (Security) Bill will place new legal duties on telecom firms to increase the security of the network, and new powers for the Government to place controls on the use of services and equipment from “high risk” firms such as Huaweii.

There will be a draft Victims’ Bill enshrining key rights from the victims’ code in law, including the right to be informed at key stages on the progress of their case and when an offender is released, where eligible under victim contact scheme.