Why the Government must stand firm on online safety in the face of pressure from ‘tech bros’ - Ismail Mulla

In the case of journalism, it’s not just the financial grift that these social media platforms are engaged with.

The idea that they can host all sorts of content that a newspaper would be dragged to the edge of bankruptcy over is beyond absurd.

Social media has become the wild west and it is only going to get worse. What the altruists thought would be a second coming of a coffeehouse, albeit over the web, has turned into an unruly drunken tavern.

And it will only get worse. There’s a reason why billionaire social media owners are sidling up to the new US administration. So-called ‘tech bros’ are looking to leverage their relationship with Donald Trump to get what’s best for them and their platforms.

Last month, Mark Zuckerberg, who has now pivoted to the Republicans after years of dancing to the tune of the Democrats, said he would “work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more”.

Here in the UK, the Online Safety Act was introduced in 2023. Minister Dame Angela Eagle says that the Government is not planning to water down the online safety legislation as part of a deal to exempt the UK from US tariffs.

She said on Monday she had seen “no corroboration that that is likely to happen” when challenged over reports such a move was being considered as a way of placating the “tech bros” that surround US President Donald Trump.

However, reports suggest that in a bid to ward off Trump’s tariffs, an arrangement could see amendments to the act, which can currently levy significant fines on US social media companies if they fail to take down harmful content,

It is obvious why these large social media companies and their billionaire owners are pushing back against regulation.

Elon Musk remains an outspoken critic of both the UK and the Online Safety Act. While Zuckerberg is on a collision course with his more lax approach to moderation at Facebook and Threads owner Meta, which could lead it to running afoul of the Online Safety Act when it comes into force at the end of March.

The Online Safety Act is far from perfect as the recent warning from Samaritans highlights. Dangerous suicide and self-harm content will remain online despite the introduction of the act because of “big gaps around high risk content”, the charity says.

But social media companies have operated with impunity for far too long. This should just be the start for them.

Publishers have guardrails that stop them from becoming a law unto themselves. The same guardrails don’t apply to social media firms.

It always makes me laugh when Elon Musk tells his acolytes on his platform that they are the media because those of us in the industry know they wouldn’t make it past the first page of McNae’s nevermind be able to sit through a council meeting or a court hearing taking meticulous shorthand notes before filing copy to a short deadline.

Watering down the Online Safety Act would send the wrong message. It would show the Government to be completely spineless.

Therefore the Prime Minister should “categorically” rule out watering down the Online Safety Act as part of an agreement on tariffs, as Andy Burrows, chief executive of online safety charity the Molly Rose Foundation, says.

He said: “In the wake of the Southport conviction, ministers should be setting out how they will strengthen not weaken regulation.”

The reality is that social media is not the market square that was promised to users. Instead it is an overfilled rubbish skip that’s been set on fire. It certainly is not good for younger generations. Foisting on young people unrealistic expectations and exposing them to harmful content.

It makes me wonder whether we would be better off with less technology. We certainly would be better off without social media. Reading a book or a newspaper without having someone screaming at you is far more cathartic than engaging with an online troll stuck in their bedroom.