Online harm reduction – a statutory duty of care and regulator
71 Pages Posted: 10 Jan 2022
Date Written: April 18, 2019
Abstract
In 2018-2019 Professor Lorna Woods and William Perrin developed a public policy proposal to improve the safety of some users of internet services in the United Kingdom through a statutory duty of care enforced by a regulator. Woods and Perrin’s work under the aegis of Carnegie UK Trust took the form of many blog posts, presentations and seminars. This paper consolidates that work into a single document.
The approach – looking at the design of the service - is systemic rather than content-based, preventative rather than palliative. At the heart of the new regime would be a ‘duty of care’ set out by Parliament in statute. This statutory duty of care would require most companies that provide social media or online messaging services used in the UK to protect people in the UK from reasonably foreseeable harms that might arise from use of those services. This approach is risk-based and outcomes-focused. A regulator would have sufficient powers to ensure that companies delivered on their statutory duty of care.
This report was published in advance of the publication of the UK Government’s Online Harms White Paper, which was expected to set out comprehensive proposals for regulation in this area.
Keywords: duty of care, platform regulation, social media, systems, regulation, online harm
JEL Classification: K13, K20, K39
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation