It is right that the Online Safety Bill protects the freedom of speech of users, including the freedom of users to criticise issues such as government policy. However, as it stands, the failure of social media companies to address the abuse and harassment is driving people away from their platforms, reducing their opportunity to contribute to important debates and limiting their own freedom of speech.
Key messages
- Councillors are experiencing increasing online intimidation, abuse and threats against them, which in turn can prevent elected members from representing the communities they serve, prevent individuals from standing for election and undermine public trust in democratic processes. These harmful behaviours – whether occurring towards, between or by elected members – are entirely unacceptable.
- Evidence shows that women, those from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds, members of our LGBT+ community and disabled people experience more online abuse than others. These groups are already underrepresented in local politics, and advice to remove their social media presence curtails the ability of these candidates to campaign using this platform and engage effectively with residents once they are elected.
- There has been significant public discussion around abuse and intimidation online, in particular on social media sites. These conversations have highlighted that abuse and intimidation are widespread, with triggers for discussion including the treatment of footballers, including through the Euro 2020 tournament; the abuse faced by elected politicians; the bullying of pop stars.
- While social media companies have implemented some approaches to tackle the issue, including automated and human moderation of content and a range of options for users, including reporting messages or posts and blocking users, there remain widespread calls for social media sites to do more to address online abuse, harassment and intimidation. This in particular focuses on the fact that much of the approach depends on tackling content after it is posted, significant responsibility lies with the person receiving abuse and harassment, and the perceived limited success of the current approaches.
- Discussion with LGA members suggests this perception is accurate, with many councillors continuing to experience abuse online. The LGA currently has a call for evidence out to capture elected members' experiences and emerging trends around abuse and intimidation from the public. So far, the LGA has received approximately 400 responses, the evidence suggests that councillors experience online abuse regularly and the abuse received is somewhat normalised, both by councillors themselves and their support networks. Councillors in particular highlight misogynistic, homophobic, racist and other forms of harassment in relation to protected characteristics. In response to growing concerns about the impact of the level of public intimidation and toxicity of debate, the LGA are coordinating a programme of work entitled Civility in public life.
- It is right that the Online Safety Bill protects the freedom of speech of users, including the freedom of users to criticise issues such as government policy. However, as it stands, the failure of social media companies to address the abuse and harassment is driving people away from their platforms, reducing their opportunity to contribute to important debates and limiting their own freedom of speech.
- There have recently been calls for a ban on anonymity on social media to tackle online abuse, with proponents of a ban highlighting that users can feel ‘protected’ by their anonymity and emboldened to say things they would not say in person, while the police can find it difficult to trace anonymous users. The LGA has sympathy with these calls, with some councillors reporting receiving abuse from anonymous accounts.
- However, the LGA also recognises the benefits that can come with maintaining options for using anonymous accounts, from whistleblowing to protecting the voice of those who are not safe to speak out using their own names such as those suffering from domestic abuse or LGBTQ+ young people living in unaccepting homes or communities. Furthermore, the UK is leading the way with this legislation, therefore the Bill is likely to influence action in other countries. If such a ban were implemented worldwide, or if social media companies required more information to set up an account, this could severely curtail chances for political dissidents in oppressive regimes to speak out and even put their lives at risk.
- To improve the experience of all users online, users must be encouraged to be respectful of each other, including where there are opposing views. Improving media literacy is one part of this, ensuring users understand the impact of their posts on others, and are able to recognise the kinds of mis- and disinformation that can spark abuse of others. The other side is improving civility and respectful debate in wider society.
Abuse of councillors
Discussion with LGA members suggests that many councillors continue to experience abuse online despite social media companies implementing some approaches to tackle the issue, including automated and human moderation of content and a range of options for users, including reporting messages or posts and blocking users. In particular, councillors highlight misogynistic, homophobic, racist and other forms of harassment in relation to protected characteristics.
This is borne out by evidence of the experiences of different communities online. For example, 40 per cent of LGBT young people, and 58 per cent of trans young people, have been the target of homophobic, biphobic and transphobic abuse online (Stonewall). 21 per cent of women in the UK have experienced online abuse or harassment at least once, with this most commonly coming from strangers (Amnesty International). And over 40 per cent of people with a visible difference have had negative experiences online, with one in ten saying they are repeatedly harassed on social media (Changing Faces).
In response to growing concerns about the impact of the level of public intimidation and toxicity of debate, particularly at a local level, the LGA is working closely with WLGA, COSLA and NILGA to coordinate a programme of work entitled Civility in public life. This programme of work includes a councillor’s guide to handling abuse, intimidation and safety, which is currently being updated to include further detail on online harassment, and a set of resources for local councillors on digital citizenship, including a model rules of engagement and top tips on how to tackle online abuse and includes guidance around dealing with misinformation and smear campaigns. Improving the quality of public and political discourse is key to attracting and retaining new councillors. This programme underpins other work by the LGA to encourage a more diverse range of people to consider standing for election, like the Be a Councillor campaign.
Online Safety Bill
The Draft Online Safety Bill (OSB) was published on 12 May 2021 and aims to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online while defending free expression. Amongst many things, the Bill establishes a new regulatory regime to address illegal and harmful content online, with the aim of preventing harm to individuals in the United Kingdom. It also imposes duties of care in relation to illegal content and imposes duties on such providers in relation to the protection of users’ rights to freedom of expression and privacy. The Bill is of significant interest to councils and the LGA will be working with partners to ensure it is as impactful as it can be when formally introduced into Parliament.
Whilst social media companies have implemented some approaches to tackle abuse and intimidation online, there remain widespread calls for social media sites to do more to address online abuse, harassment and intimidation. This in particular focuses on the fact that much of the approach depends on tackling content after it is posted, significant responsibility lies with the person receiving abuse and harassment, and the perceived limited success of the current approaches. One of the challenges of placing responsibility on users to deal with online abuse themselves is that, even if a user ignores or blocks a particular user, this does not always stop that content being published, potentially stirring up ill feeling online.
Evidence has shown that people are promoted content that links with their existing views, leading to ‘echo chambers’ online where abusive content can be shared and amplified. This kind of abusive discourse can then escalate into offline violence, as is believed to have been the case in the murder of five people in Plymouth in August 2021. Therefore, while tools to support users are important, preventing harmful content, in particular violent and threatening content, from being published and shared in the first place by building safety into platform design is essential.
The LGA therefore supports the recommendation of the Draft Online Safety Bill Joint Committee (the “Joint Committee”) to include in the Bill a specific responsibility on service providers to have in place systems and processes to identify reasonably foreseeable risks of harm arising from the design of their platforms and take proportionate steps to mitigate those risks of harm. The LGA calls for this to include explicit reference to users with protected characteristics.
The LGA also supports the Joint Committee’s recommendation that Ofcom should be required to produce a mandatory Safety by Design Code of Practice, setting out the steps providers will need to take to properly consider and mitigate these risks. There have recently been calls for a ban on anonymity on social media to tackle online abuse, with proponents of a ban highlighting that users can feel ‘protected’ by their anonymity and emboldened to say things they would not say in person, while the police can find it difficult to trace anonymous users. Whilst the LGA has sympathy with these calls, we recognise the benefits that can come with maintaining options for using anonymous accounts, from whistleblowing to protecting the voice of those who are not safe to speak out using their own names such as those suffering from domestic abuse or LGBTQ+ young people living in unaccepting homes or communities.
The Joint Committee, following its scrutiny of the Bill, concluded that “anonymity and pseudonymity are crucial to online safety for marginalised groups, for whistleblowers and for victims of domestic abuse and other forms of offline violence. Anonymity and pseudonymity themselves are not the problem and ending them would not be a proportionate response.” It also made a range of recommendations to tackle the challenges posed by anonymous accounts, including a requirement that Ofcom include proportionate steps to mitigate these risks as part of its recommended mandatory Safety by Design Code of Practice.
For these reasons the LGA believes that focussing on preventing abusive content before it is posted, and ensuring appropriate responses to abusive content, is a more appropriate approach to tackling online abuse and harassment than banning anonymous accounts. The LGA therefore supports the recommendation of the Joint Committee that platforms should be required to take proportionate steps to mitigate risks posed by anonymous and pseudonymous accounts.
To improve the experience of all users online, users must be encouraged to be respectful of each other, including where there are opposing views. Improving media literacy is one part of this, ensuring users understand the impact of their posts on others, and are able to recognise the kinds of mis- and disinformation that can spark abuse of others. The other side is improving civility and respectful debate in wider society.
The Government, the Independent Press Standards Organisation and Ofcom should consider how to ensure the media and politics lead by example in relation to civility and respect. Local government recognises its own leadership role here and the LGA will continue to develop its Civility in Public Life programme.