Rushing internet regulation could harm child sex abuse victims, charity warns
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) says expediting regulation could undo the successful work accomplished to date.
Child victims of sexual abuse could be affected by unintended consequences if the Government rushes through internet regulation without taking a balanced approach, an internet safety charity has said.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) warned against “rushing into knee-jerk regulation which creates perverse incentives or unintended consequences to victims” and urged politicians and policymakers to work with social networks to develop the best possible regulatory framework, rather than simply imposing it on them.
Recommendations have been set out by the charity ahead of the Government’s long-awaited White Paper on dealing with online harms, which is expected by the end of winter.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright, who is in Silicon Valley meeting technology industry leaders including Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg, told the BBC that the period of companies regulating themselves “was coming to an end”.
He said on Thursday: “If we do it effectively, as we seek to do, and we construct a system that will work, then it may be that other countries will look carefully at that model and seek to do something similar.
