A planned crackdown on legal but harmful content online is set to be ditched amid freedom of speech fears by both Tory leadership candidates Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.
They have pledged to introduce duty of care laws to protect children from online harms and adults from illegal content such as terrorism, drugs, weapons and suicide material as soon as possible.
But they are expected to scrap clause 14 in the Online Safety Bill that aims to regulate legal but harmful content after Tory critics warned it could allow “woke” social media firms to remove offensive or controversial comments that they disagreed with.
It comes just a week after Baroness Kidron, an architect of the duty of care laws and new Children’s Code warned in The Telegraph that it was “deeply worrying” to try to regulate “legal but harmful” online content when there were already laws covering discrimination, sexism and hate speech.
A spokesman for Mr Sunak, the former chancellor, said: “Rishi has spoken passionately as a dad about his desire to protect children online from content no parent would want their children to see - from violence, self harm and suicide to pornography.
“As prime minister he would urgently legislate to protect children. His concern with the bill as drafted is that it censors free speech amongst adults which he does not support.
“Rishi believes the Government has a duty to protect children and crack down on illegal behaviour, but should not infringe on legal and free speech.”
‘It hasn’t been properly thought through’
A source in Ms Truss, the Foreign Secretary’s camp, said she would not scrap the bill. “She thinks it needs to protect children from online harm, but we have to be careful to not damage freedom of speech for adults, ultimately,” said the source.
One of the leading figures in the criticism has been Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister, who has urged ministers to “take a fresh look” at their Online Safety Bill because of the threat to free speech.
Lord Frost told The Telegraph: “The Government would be wise to take a fresh look at the Online Safety Bill before beginning discussion in Parliament. Aspects of it present a real risk to freedom of expression in this country.
“It clearly hasn’t been properly thought through in all its aspects and it would be better to pause, have further discussion, and get things right.”
The Online Safety Bill’s progress through Parliament was delayed before the summer recess when its final stages in the Commons were postponed until the autumn.
Supporters of the bill fear there could be further delays as the new prime minister prioritises the cost of living crisis, tackling surging energy prices and the Channel migrant crisis.