Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan vows to crack down on web giants as she slams them for failing to tackle online bullying
NICKY Morgan blasted web giants yesterday for failing to tackle Britain’s online bullying “culture” – and vowed a crackdown.
The Culture Secretary said she was “disappointed” by the efforts of the likes of Twitter to police their social media platforms.
And she said there was no way such abuse would be tolerated for so long ‘offline’ in the real world.
It came as she tore into middle-aged Brits she claimed were responsible for much of the abuse - saying they are “frankly old enough to know better”.
Ms Morgan said the Government hoped to finalise plans to tackle ‘online harms’ by the end of the year – saying: “We want to get on with it.”
Speaking on the fringes of Tory conference, she said: “We are trying to make sure the online world is as safe and secure as the offline world.
"People say if you’re being bullied don’t go online. But we don’t tell a women not to walk the streets.”
Ms Morgan added that when she received a death threat, it was only when she managed to contact “a human” that the site took it seriously.
“Twitter’s algorithms couldn’t spot it as a death threat as it didn’t specifically say ‘We want to kill you’.”
The Sun Says
WE applaud Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan’s plan for a law to force Twitter and others to ban bullies. The site is a swamp.
But when MPs are so obnoxious on there is it any wonder voters pile in too?
Nothing has done more than Twitter to wreck our politics.
It long ago turned moderate MPs like Labour’s David Lammy into gibbering, abusive fools.
They convince themselves Twitter represents the national conversation — and are stunned when they discover to their cost where public opinion really is.
Parliament would be in a far better state if MPs ditched it and focused on real life.
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And she said the fear is that the vast majority of people don’t have the privileged access MPs would have.
Former Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright revealed plans in April to set up a regulator to police online giants.
Under the online harms proposals senior managers would be held liable for breaches – with a possible levy on the industry to fund the regulator.
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