Online Safety Bill does not protect Muslim communities from online harm
The Centre for Media Monitoring submitted evidence to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee Online Safety Bill on 18th May 2022.
The Online Safety Bill provides a new regulatory framework to tackle ‘harmful’ content on social media and elsewhere online. However, it does not affectively deal with the harm caused intentionally or inadvertently at times by mainstream media publications online towards Muslims and Islam.
- CfMM’s submission argues that due to the ‘News Publisher Content Exemption’, and the ‘Comment Forum Exemption’, this new Online Safety Bill does not protect Muslim communities from online harm.
- We provide the following in support of our arguments:
- An evidence base which shows how the British media’s portrayal of Muslims & Islam is contributing to growing hostility online and offline towards Muslim communities
- Examples from online publications which show how Muslims and Islam are being misrepresented and portrayed negatively
- Examples of how far right individuals and organisations use this content, amplify it on social media and target Muslims & Islam online and offline
- Why the new Online Harms Bill should regulate publications online and extend the definition of harm to include harm caused to Muslims and Islam
To read the submission in full please, use the button below to download.
