UK Maintains Online Safety Act in US Trade Negotiations
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain will not make any changes to its Online Safety Act as part of trade negotiations with the United States, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said on Wednesday.
"We've been really clear that we have to regulate the online space to make sure that it is a safe space, just as we would do in the real world," she told Times Radio, when asked if she would consider changing the law.
"That is not on the table as part of a trade negotiation."
Britain is aiming to strike a new economic partnership with the United States focused on tech and artificial intelligence to soften the blow of the sweeping tariffs announced by President Donald Trump last week.
Campaigners have raised concerns that measures to constrain the power of "big tech", such as online safety laws and digital services taxes, could be watered down to secure a deal.
Britain's Online Safety Act, which became law in 2023, sets tougher standards for platforms to tackle criminal activity, with an emphasis on child protection and illegal content.
Plans to tackle harmful but legal content, such as misinformation, were dropped before the act became law after critics said they posed a risk to free speech.
Companies that fail to act can be liable to fines of up to 10% of global turnover or 18 million pounds ($23 million), whichever is higher.
Enforcement of the law has been introduced in stages.
Regulator Ofcom said last month that Meta's Facebook, ByteDance's TikTok, Alphabet's YouTube and others must implement better moderation, easier reporting and built-in safety tests to make their platforms safer by design.
($1 = 0.7795 pounds)
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar and Paul Sandle; Editing by Kate Holton)
