Summary

  • A joint committee of MPs and Peers is examining the government's Online Safety Bill

  • Former England captain Rio Ferdinand gave evidence to MPs and Peers about the government's draft Online Safety Bill

  • The ex-Manchester United player told MPs abuse online is "normalising" racist behaviour with "no repercussions"

  • And he described how he had to explain to his children why people use the monkey emoji

  • The government's proposed new laws would set up new rules to tackle harmful online content

  • Other witnesses who gave evidence were Imran Ahmed, from Centre for Countering Digital Hate, chair of Kick It Out Sanjay Bhandari, and Edleen John from the FA

  • Nancy Kelley the CEO of Stonewall and Danny Stone MBE, the Director of the Antisemitism Policy Trust are also gave evidence

Live Reporting

Paul Seddon, Richard Morris and Johanna Howitt

  1. What is the Online Safety Bill?

    Girl on phoneGetty

    The Online Safety Bill is designed to protect children and adults

    The bill would place new duties on social media firms to remove harmful content, including racist posts but also including images of child abuse, terrorism, and posts relating to suicide.

    It would give the government new powers to enforce the rules, including powers to issue larger fines for social media platforms and even potentially restrict access to them.

    First conceived by Theresa May's government in April 2019, the bill is still in draft form and is undergoing scrutiny from MPs before starting its journey into law.

    Some campaigners say the plans will lead to censorship, while others - including the Labour Party - warn fines do not go far enough.

    Labour has suggested it will push to introduce criminal sanctions for senior executives at tech companies who fail to enforce rules on abuse.

  2. Good morning

    Rio FerdinandPA Media

    Ex-Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand has spoken out against online racism

    Hello

    Welcome to our live coverage from Westminster.

    A joint committee of MPs and Peers are examining the government's Online Safety Bill.

    This morning, they are taking evidence from campaigners against racism and online abuse.

    The session will begin at 09:45 BST with evidence from Imran Ahmed. He is the CEO on the Centre for Countering Digital Hate. He's expected to tell the committee why he thinks the government's proposals don't go far enough.

    At 10:45 former England captain Rio Ferdinand will discuss online racism against footballers.

    He'll be joined by the chair of Kick It Out Sanjay Bhandari, and Edleen John from the FA.

    Then ending the session, from 11:30 Nancy Kelley the CEO of Stonewall and Danny Stone MBE, the Director of the Antisemitism Policy Trust will share their views on how anti-LGBT and antisemitism online hate.

    Do stay with us.