Ofcom intend to follow countries like Germany and lead a 'global assault' on online abuses covering everything from bullying & harrassment to child abuse. Germany has seen many more moderators taken on to remove innapropriate postings and deal with the perpetrators.
They believe that they are better placed to fight online abuses because it will take thr Government time to set up other bodies.
A formal duty of care placed upon providers of interaction services is proposed to ensure the wellbeing of their service users. This follows the failure of self regulation and the fact that 40% of our most vulnerable in society have experienced innapropriate treatment by others leading to 52% of the public calling for action.
A third of all adults find it difficult to use the internet without being offended by the content.
Newspaper article:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...buses-protect/
Radio discussion:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bk1c1k
It emerged that one of the men involved in bringing this initiative to Germany was found to have once called someone an "idiot" online, but he has since claimed that he wouldn't do this in the present day.
Some have called this an attack on free speech, whilst others have welcomed this as being long overdue.