Britain Proposes Broad New Powers to Regulate Internet Content

In recent weeks, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, has said new regulations are needed, particularly to more clearly define what is acceptable content so companies aren’t the main judges.

And Facebook took a similar stance in response to the British proposal. “New regulations are needed so that we have a standardized approach across platforms and private companies aren’t making so many important decisions alone,” Facebook said in a statement. “These are complex issues to get right and we look forward to working with the government and Parliament to ensure new regulations are effective.”

Twitter said in a statement that it would “engage in the discussion between industry and the U.K. government, as well as work to strike an appropriate balance between keeping users safe and preserving the internet’s open, free nature.”

Google had no immediate statement.

British officials are calling for the creation of a mandatory “duty of care” standard intended “to make companies take responsibility for the safety of their users and to tackle harm caused by content or activity on their services.”

The government listed a number of topics that companies could be required to address or risk fines and other penalties. The list includes material thought to be supporting terrorism, inciting violence, encouraging suicide, disinformation, cyberbullying and inappropriate material accessible to children. The rules would apply to social media platforms, discussion forums, messaging services and search engines.

Actions in Britain and elsewhere signal a new era for the internet. Western democracies have largely avoided regulating online communication. But as evidence mounts that online actions are having harmful real-life consequences by contributing to violence, compromising elections and spreading hateful ideologies, governments are becoming more willing to intervene.

In the United States, where free speech is more of a core value than other nations, there’s been less momentum to regulate internet content. But in Washington this week, the House Judiciary Committee will question executives from Facebook and Google on the spread of white nationalism on social media.

“The era of self-regulation for online companies is over,” Jeremy Wright, Britain’s digital secretary, said in a statement. “Voluntary actions from industry to tackle online harms have not been applied consistently or gone far enough.” Technology,” he added, “can be an incredible force for good and we want the sector to be part of the solution in protecting their users. However, those that fail to do this will face tough action.”