Hundreds of websites to shut down under UK’s ‘chilling’ internet laws
Community pages face closure as lengthy new rules ‘create disproportionate liability’
www.telegraph.co.uk
Hundreds of websites to shut down under UK’s ‘chilling’ internet laws
Community pages face closure as lengthy new rules ‘create disproportionate liability’
James Titcomb Technology Editor
Hundreds of websites will be shut down on the day that Britain’s Online Safety Act comes into effect, in what are believed to be the first casualties of the new internet laws.
Microcosm, a web forum hosting service that runs 300 sites including cycling forums and local community hubs, said that the sites would go offline on March 16, the day that Ofcom starts enforcing the Act.
Its owner said they were unable to comply with the lengthy requirements of the Act, which created a “disproportionately high personal liability”.
The new laws, which were designed to crack down on illegal content and protect children, threaten fines of at least £18m for sites that fail to comply with the laws.
On Monday, Ofcom set out more than 40 measures that it expects online services to follow by March, such as carrying out risk assessments about their sites and naming senior people accountable for ensuring safety.
Microcosm, which has hosted websites including cycling forum LFGSS since 2007, is run as a non-profit funded by donations and largely relies on users to follow community guidelines. Its sites attract a combined 250,000 users.
Dee Kitchen, who operates the service and moderates its 300 sites, said: “What this is, is a chilling effect [on small sites].
“For the really small sites and the charitable sites and the local sports club there’s no carve-out for anything.
“It feels like a huge risk, and it feels like it can be so easily weaponised by angry people who are the subject of moderation.
“It’s too vague and too broad and I don’t want to take that personal risk.”
Announcing the shutdown on the LFGSS forum, they said: “It’s devastating to just ... turn it off … but this is what the Act forces a sole individual running so many social websites for a public good to do.”
Microcosm, a free service, is used to run hundreds of forums dedicated to cycling groups, technology and local communities.
After the announcement, one member wrote: “This is just devastating.” Others suggested moving the website’s hosting overseas, or onto a chat app such as Discord.
The Online Safety Act, passed by the last government, is designed to stop social media users accessing terrorist material and abuse images, and will introduce strict age checking requirements to ensure that underage users are not able to access the services.
The laws introduce extra requirements on larger social media sites and search engines, but Ofcom says it will cover online services “from large and well-resourced companies to very small ‘micro-businesses’”.
In a consultation response earlier this year, the social media site Reddit said the online safety laws could lead companies to quit Britain, saying: “If thresholds are premised on certain characteristics and functionalities alone, small-to-medium sized platforms will bear disproportionate economic, operational and competitive disadvantages when placed in the same category as much larger companies.”
An Ofcom spokesman said: “We know there’s a diverse range of services in scope of the UK’s new online safety laws. The actions sites and apps will need to take will depend on their size and level of risk.”
“We’re providing support to online service providers of all sizes to make it easier for them to understand – and comply with – their responsibilities.”
