Online Safety Bill set to soon become law in UK

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The Online Safety Bill, the government's attempt to protect children and adults online, passed its final -parliamentary debate Tuesday.

Defining it as "the most powerful child protection laws in a generation," the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said in a statement it has been signed off by the Houses of Parliament and will soon become law.

"The bill will make the UK the safest place in the world to be online by placing new duties on social media companies – honouring our manifesto commitment," it said.

It noted that the bill takes "a zero-tolerance approach" to protecting children and will make social media companies more responsible for users’ safety on their platforms.

"If they do not act rapidly to prevent and remove illegal content and stop children seeing material that is harmful to them, such as bullying, they will face significant fines that could reach billions of pounds," it said. "In some cases, their bosses may even face prison.”

Defining the bill as "a game-changing piece of legislation," Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan highlighted its importance to make the UK a safer place in the world to be online.

"It puts protecting children first, enabling us to catch keyboard criminals and crack down on the heinous crimes they seek to commit," she added in the statement.