Keir Starmer Confirms Online Safety Act Will Be Reviewed after Far-right Riots

THE GUARDIAN: Remarks follow concern about role of misinformation in unrest and come as people are jailed for inciting violence online

Online misinformation laws will be reviewed after a spreading of falsehoods contributed to this month’s far-right riots, Keir Starmer has said.

The prime minister said social media was “not a law-free zone” during a visit to a police station on Friday, hours before two men were jailed for encouraging people on social media to attack hotels housing asylum seekers.

Starmer was asked about the warning by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, that the Online Safety Act was not fit for purpose and needed to be revisited.

Starmer told broadcasters: “I do agree that we’re going to have to look more broadly at social media after this disorder, but the focus at the moment has to be on dealing with the disorder and making sure that our communities are safe and secure.”

There have been calls for the Online Safety Act, which empowers the media regulator, Ofcom, to fine social media platforms that fail to tackle disinformation, to be enforced more quickly. (+ video) » | Eleni Courea and Mabel Banfield-Nwachi | Friday, August 9, 2024

The New DARK AGE of which I wrote so many years ago has well and truly DAWNED! Goodbye freedom of speech! Hello Mr Stasi! Perhaps those who rue the end of East Germany should think about coming to live in the UK. I think they might feel very much at home here. – © Mark Alexander