Another free speech watchdog has slammed the UK government’s proposed law for tackling online abuse, warning that it would effectively ban run-of-the-mill conversations online that would remain legal on the street. A report by Big Brother Watch published on Sept. 5 (pdf) states that free speech online is already shrinking in the name of preventing harm and that the proposed Online Safety Bill would worsen the problem. The draft bill aims to protect adults and children from both legal and illegal “harms” online and has been described by both critics and supporters as the most ambitious attempt to regulate the internet in the free world. The measure would empower broadcast regulator Ofcom to fine and even block tech companies for violating the rules. “We’ve exposed how, over recent years, social media companies have adopted increasingly censorious speech standards,” Mark Johnson, legal and policy officer at Big Brother Watch, said in a statement regarding …
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