《网络安全法案》如何改变责任规则

February 2022 About Coadec The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) is an independent advocacy group that serves as the policy Coadec was founded in 2010 by Mike Butcher, Editor-at-Large of technology news publisher TechCrunch,and Jeff Lynn, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of online investment platform Seedrs. Wefight for a policy environment that enables early-stage British tech companies to grow, scale andcompete globally. We have over 3000 startups in our network and have been instrumental in buildingproactive coalitions of businesses and investors on issues that are integral to the health of the UK’s startup We represent the startup community on the Government’s Digital Economy Council, and the UK on the board Executive Summary The UK has a world-leading tech ecosystem made up of tens of thousands of startups and smallfirms. Widelyregarded as the tech capital of Europe, the UK is now the third country in the world to pass 100 tech unicorns,after only the United States and China. This saw the UK attract £30 billion in tech investment in 2021, andbefore the pandemic,the digital sector contributed £148 billion (8%) of total UK GVA. The sector is one But new Government plans to reform online safety laws put this success at risk. The Online Safety Billthreatens to rewrite the rules around when digitalfirms are liable for the actions of individual users. Theserules are the basis for the UK’s tech success. Taken to its fullest extent, proposals could see almost 300,000 This is a significant departure from where the UK is at present and would make the UK a global outlier inhow liability is policed and enforced online. The framework provided for by the EU eCommerce directive hasunderpinned the success of new and growing UK digitalfirms for the last two decades and has offeredfirms With its departure from the EU, the UK is no longer required to legislate in line with the principles of theeCommerce Directive. The proposals put forward in the draft Online Safety Bill upend the legal andregulatory basis for the UK’s tech success, creating instead an environment that is legally risky, costly andhugely burdensome for businesses. This will create substantially more barriers and red-tape than current In order to protect the UK’s economic position and support post-pandemic recovery and growth, the draftOnline Safety Bill needs significant reworking to bring it in line with historic global norms around online What is platform liability and how does it work? Online service providers in the UK are not typically held liable for content uploaded to their platforms. Thisis a long-standing principle that has been underpinned for over two decades by the EU’s eCommerce Directive The eCommerce Directive sets out a wide range of rules for online services. This includes requirements aroundtransparency and consumer information, and rules on what is permitted across commercial communications The eCommerce Directive created a framework commonly known as the ‘safe harbour’ principle. Under safeharbour, online platforms are not held liable for the content which they transmit or host, provided they areunaware of any illegality. Once platforms become aware of illegal content, the Directive requires that servicesthen act quickly to remove it - something which is strengthened by notice and take-down obligations. This This framework limits the liability faced by a service for the content that it facilitates, provided that it is notaware of the content’s presence . Further to this, the Directive prohibits Member States from imposing generalmonitoring obligations on services to monitor users’ content - a measure intended to protect privacy and This framework has been successful in balancing the responsibilities of online platforms, protecting users This regime has offered certainty andflexibility to businesses, allowing them to adapt and to grow - accessinga global market with regulatory standards that are largely the same in key markets around the world. Thishas seen innovation thrive. Products and services can be created quickly and can operate under legal clarity.This has brought enormous economic benefits to the UK and has seen it become a genuine world leader in The UK has a large digital ecosystem comprising many tens of thousands of startups and smallfirms. TheUK is the tech capital of Europe and is now only the third country in the world to pass 100 tech unicorns,after the United States and China.³ Figures released last year by the Government show thatthe UK tech The Online Safety Bill’s changes to the UK’s liability regime would put this investment, and the associated What has changed? With its departure from the EU, the UK is no longer required to legislate in line with the principles of theeCommerce Directive, allowing it to erode the liability and general monitoring framework that has supported The UK Government has stated that it intends to uphold the existing liability regime but has made no such Desp