MPs call to ban gay conversion therapy ads in internet safety bill

MPs have added their names to a call to prevent children viewing online adverts for gay conversion therapy in an amendment to the Online Safety Bill.

Ahead of the legislation's debate on Tuesday, Alicia Kearns laid down the amendment on Friday in a bid to ban adverts promoting the so-called therapy to anyone under 18.

The amendment, obtained by ITV News, states that "content which advertises or promotes the practice of so-called conversion practices of LGBTQ+ individuals must be considered as harmful for the purposes of this section."

ITV News revealed in October last year that work to ban conversion therapy had been paused, more than four years after former prime minister Theresa May promised to end the practice in July 2018.

It comes as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces a major backbench rebellion, with Conservative MPs pushing for social media bosses to be made criminally liable for protecting children from harm online.

A host of former cabinet ministers are among those who have put their name to an amendment to the Online Safety Bill demanding tougher action.

Almost 40 rebels, including former home secretary Priti Patel and former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan-Smith, want the owners of social media platforms to face jail time if they fail to protect children from seeing damaging content.

Ian Russell and Ruth Moss, parents of children who killed themselves after viewing harmful content online, are among those campaigning for the UK government to accept the proposed change.

The amendment is looking to introduce a new clause into the Bill to “make it an offence for the provider of a user-to-service not to comply with the safety duties protecting children” which are set out in the draft law.

A total of 36 Tories have backed the alteration, including former environment secretary Dame Andrea Leadsom and a slew of former frontbenchers.

The amendment is likely to cause Rishi Sunak a fresh headache when the legislation, which has been five years in the works, is due to return to the House of Commons for debate on Tuesday.

With Labour backing the amendment, the rebels are likely to have the numbers to inflict the first defeat of Mr Sunak’s premiership if it is called to a vote.

Since entering No 10 in October, Mr Sunak has backed down in the face of uprisings on his backbenches, having ditched onshore wind farms and housing planning reforms.

Earlier, Downing Street said it would “consider” any amendments made to the Online Safety Bill.

The prime minister’s official spokesman, asked whether Mr Sunak supported holding social media bosses criminally responsible for failing to comply with the draft law, said: “Our aim is to hold to account social media platforms for harmful content while also ensuring the UK remains a great place to invest and grow a tech business.

“We are confident we can achieve both of these things. We will carefully consider all the proposed amendments to the Online Safety Bill and set out its position when report stage continues.”

What is the current law on internet safety?

In its current form, the new internet safety law would require tech companies to remove illegal material from their platforms, with a particular emphasis on protecting children from seeing harmful content.

Social media platforms and other user-generated, content-based sites that break these rules would face large fines from the sector’s new regulator, Ofcom.

But, currently, the proposed law would only hold tech bosses liable for failing to give information to the watchdog.

Molly Russell was 14 when she took her own life after viewing harmful material linked to anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide on social media.

Her father, Ian Russell, said: “At Molly’s inquest, the world saw the scale of the incredibly distressing content she was exposed to as a vulnerable girl suffering from mental ill health.

“Still no-one has taken any personal responsibility for how social media contributed to her death.

“Including senior manager liability in the Online Safety Bill is an opportunity to stop this from happening again and focus tech bosses’ minds to ensure their platforms are safe online spaces for children to be.

“I urge the culture secretary and the prime minister to listen to campaigners and a growing number of their own MPs and accept this crucial amendment to the proposed legislation.”

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