The British Government to Ban Self-Injurious Content on the Internet, Here's the Explanation

British Secretary of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports, Michelle Donelan. (photo: twitter @ilyledonelan)

JAKARTA - The British government intends to prohibit someone from self-harm online. They will also fine social media companies that fail to remove such material, as part of changes to laws governing online behavior.

Promoting suicide is already illegal in the country, but the UK's Ministry for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said in a statement that it was now also asking social media companies to block a wider range of content.

"Social media companies can no longer afford to sit idly by and they will face fines for allowing this abusive and destructive behavior to continue on their platforms under our laws," said Digital Secretary, Michelle Donelan.

Britain's Conservative government says the proposal aims to block images and videos similar to those seen by Molly Russell, a 14-year-old whose death in 2017 has sparked continued public concern.

In September, the coroner investigating her death determined that social media platforms had provided her with content that "romanticizes self-harm by young people".

Under the proposal, social media companies must remove and limit users' exposure to material that intentionally encourages self-harm.

Last week the government said the new law would also prohibit the distribution of sexually explicit images that have been manipulated to appear to appear to show someone disapproving of being shown in them.

Full details of this latest proposal, including the criminal penalties faced by people who promote self-harm, and the scale of fines faced by companies, will emerge next month when legislative amendments are submitted to parliament.

Wider legislation that includes such penalties, known as the Online Safety Bill, has moved slowly through parliament since its first draft appeared in May 2021.

The previous version sought to ban "legal but harmful" online material, drawing criticism from tech companies and free speech campaigners who said the definition was too vague and could be used to criminalize legal behavior arbitrarily.

However, the bill is strongly supported by child and mental health charities, and by people seeking to limit racist and sexist abuse online.