Last week began with my best friend sharing a link to a tweet talking about the 'Online Safety Bill' that had passed through parliament and was at the committee stage. The committee stage is like half time where MP submitted amendments are considered and returned the floor for a final debate. The bill is then pushed on to the house of Lords for two readings and then amendments are considered before becoming law.

The bill was initially expected to become law in the first quarter of 2023 however according to the Carnegie UK Trust its not expected to become fully operational until at least 2024.

The Online Safety Bill may technically pass into law in 2023 but there will be a grace period will to allow website owners to make the required alterations to comply with the new rules. In the meantime we all hope the Lords develop a conscious and stops the bill.

What is the Online Safety Bill

The bill was initially designed to hold social media giants more accountable for their content on their platforms since encouraging them to properly monitor and remove anything not suitable for family viewing. The voluntary approach hasn't worked. So instead they are asking UK visitors not to be given access to adult content unless they can prove they are over 18 years old.

The idea of the bill is to regulate what users can see and upload. So, think of any web site where you upload something then this law to designed to police that. This action is often referred to as 'user generated content' which is what sites like Facebook and Twitter are all about. However there are a lot of smaller sites that rely on user generated content as well, such as 'Professional Mistresses' who announced last week their intention to close the web site at the end of 2022.

Instead of banning adult content the government are making social media site owners whose sites contain such material liable for checking everyone is over 18 who views it. Not just saying they are over 18 but proving it.

Age Checking Services

The sort of age checking procedures that are being demanded are those that banks and other financial institutions use such as scanning your ID and comparing it with a government database or using your mobile number or credit card to confirm your age.

However, all of these measures can be easily foiled and so they may want to combine it with random(?) biometric logins to double check the person at the keyboard is the same as the registered account holder. Biometric checks could be your face, voice or finger print. The technology exists though it tends to be used by larger organisations like banks. Only Fans has some rudimental software that uses AI that can estimate the age of a user. Its not 100% accurate but its close enough.

The Economics

The basic problem is if the government wishes that every visitor needs to be checked then they will need to register their documents and biometric data with a third party verification service. This roughly costs 50p to register and then another 50p every time a random check is done again.

As a normal web site; say you have 5,000 new visitors per day then that's going to cost you £2,500 to perform those checks which is totally unaffordable to the majority of web site owners. The government estimated that it will cost a business an eyes watering £200K per year to implement these changes.

The result of this policy will shut down any small websites that contain pornography, push others behind pay walls or the web site will simply have to remove any content so they don't need to perform the age checking procedure.

February Amendments

In February 2022, a couple of relevant amendments were made;

Firstly to widen the scope of the bill to catch all websites that contain pornographic material and not just those with user generated content that must ensure everyone is over 18. This is the equivalent of having a doorman checking ID's and comparing it to the person standing in front of them before letting them in.
A particularly disturbing change was the introduction of the offence of “inciting or controlling prostitution for gain” clause which in layman terms means the criminalisation of advertising sex work online. There are fines and even potential jail terms for the bosses of such websites that gives these laws some serious teeth.

How will this affect you?

You may find it increasingly difficult to find places to advertise yourself online for the UK market. Some directories will still exist but they will simply block the United Kingdom so they will also be out of bounds to you. However its possible the advertising of clips stores may still be permitted.
Social media is likely to have a blanket ban on all adult content as I cannot imagine them developing Age Checking just for UK visitors. It would be nice if they did develop an adult filter but I doubt they will.
As with Fosta/Fiesta in the United States you will still be able to have your own web sites though its likely you may have to alter them by removing references to rates, change terminology and toning down imagery. For example, in the US there has been an upsurge in 'behavioural therapists' and consultants rather than using the word 'Mistress'. However this is just guess work at this point and we won't know properly until the regulator outlines its requirements next year.
Clips and Cam sites will still exist just fine though the site owners will have to implement Age Checking procedures for UK visitors and reporting functions but many sites will be still function.

A Grey Area

Web sites that have no assets based in the UK the regulator can only ask hosts to comply though as a foreign entity they are under no compulsion to do so. The regulator may approach your registrar or host for your name and address for example. If they are based outside the UK then they don't even have to respond though the Bill tries to address this by the regulator having the power to simply block a website if they can't get your details. This is still preferable than the regulator knowing who you are and where you live. After all you can just get a new domain name and if everyone did this, it will totally overwhelm the regulator just as it did with the governments previous incarnation of a similar law; Atvod

So, I would seriously consider moving your host and registrar outside the UK to give yourselves that extra level of protection from the nosey regulator, Ofcom.

Exceptions

There are a few groups of websites that have been given a special exception; meaning they do not have to check the age of its users viewing user generated content. The two I can remember are:

News sites; maintaining journalistic freedoms (Mistress News too?)
The comments on blog sites.

The Future of Directories

I'm afraid there will be a genocide of web sites like directories and other advertising platforms that operate in the UK. Those whose core business is in the UK will suffer the most and will simply shut down since the risks are too great. Others will simply block all UK traffic from visiting their website. Blocking a country takes 5 minutes and costs nothing.

There are some unknown factors which could change this. For example, is this a ban on just advertising ladies for real time services? Can a lady place an ad to advertise her website or clips store etc? If so, then there's a possibility that at least some directories will survive the onslaught.

Enforcement

It is thought that since Ofcom is the regulator then enforcement will pretty much follow the same lines as with TV broadcasts where a complaint is made that triggers an investigation. Ofcom has said they are only recruiting 300 more staff so that leads me to believe they are probably not going to be trawling the entire internet looking for victims. It sounds like Ofcom will be more reactionary rather than proactive. However, no one knows for sure at this stage.

What should you be doing now?

There is no need for any immediate panic. However, You should be evaluating how this law could affect your business and what measures you need to put in place to protect yourself.

Look at your personal website to see if there's any content that should be removed or censored so your site doesn't need to carry out over 18 checks.
Have alternatives in mind if website A or B closes when it comes to advertising. Think of different ways of advertising indirectly whatever that may be.
If social media marketing becomes difficult then look at what you are posting and what is now acceptable. Use different content on different platforms as each are likely to have different 'Acceptable Usage' policies.

When the Bill does become law then you won't be are running around like a headless chicken as you'll know exactly what to do.

How can you make a difference?

You can make your voice heard by signing these petitions and stop this horrendous attack on the freedom of speech and our business. There is also a second petition that specifically asks for the removal of prostitution from the list of priority offences:

It would be really helpful if you could sign them both as well as encourage your colleagues and clients to do the same. Please spread the word agree the social media channels as well, as the only way we are going to stop this is by getting noticed.

References

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3137
https://www.ftadviser.com/regulation/2022/05/20/online-safety-bill-may-not-be-fully-operational-until-2024/
https://shows.acast.com/lawfare/episodes/whats-in-the-uk-online-safety-bill

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