UK Politics

Social media bosses face up to two years in prison if they fail to hand over data on how they use algorithms to decide what users see, under legislation introduced by the UK government.Culture secretary Nadine Dorries said the Online Safety Bill would be “world-leading” after adding new measures aimed at creating strict criminal liability for executives at Silicon Valley’s tech giants.A raft of new offences have been added to the bill to make company managers liable for destroying evidence requested by Ofcom, providing false information or obstructing Britain’s media regulator.Criminal liability for managers at the online giants – which could lead to up to two years in imprisonment or a fine – will also be introduced within two months of the bill coming into effect, more quickly than expected.Ms Dorries said the big social media giants like Facebook and Twitter “haven’t been held to account when harm, abuse and criminal behaviour have run riot on their platforms”.The culture secretary said the algorithms which help decide what sort of content users gets shown based on their online habits – which amplifies harmful content, campaigners say – will come under much closer scrutiny through the new offences.“It’s the algorithms that cause the harm, so this bill will compel those platforms to expose those algorithms to our regulator so they can pick up where the harm is happening and hold those platforms to account,” Ms Dorries told ITV on Wednesday.However, campaign groups have warned that the bill does not go far enough to tackle tech platforms’ business models and algorithms which “prioritise and amplify harmful content”.Alaphia Zoyab, internet reform group Reset’s advocacy director, said the bill “doesn’t do enough to rein in the power of unaccountable Silicon Valley tycoons, whose platforms amplify harmful lies and hate because they drive the most clicks and cash”.Ellen Judson, senior researcher at Demos, said the government’s bill “must do more to hold big tech accountable for the way in which their operations and design of their services are putting people at risk”.The overall aim of the bill is to require online platforms to conform to a duty of care and remove content that is illegal or considered harmful – with fines of up to 10 per cent of their annual global turnover among the potential penalties.The bill has been strengthened in recent months, with the addition of several new criminal offences to force social media firms to act on illegal content more quickly.Ms Dorries confirmed last month that offences such as revenge porn, hate crime, fraud, the sale of illegal drugs or weapons, the promotion or facilitation of suicide, people-smuggling and sexual exploitation have been added to the list of priority offences.Cyberflashing will become a criminal offence, punishable by up to two years in jail. And there will be new measures to crack down on anonymous trolls to give people more control over who can contact them and what they see online.Ms Dorries is under pressure to explain exactly how the bill will uphold freedom of speech, despite the promise that journalists will be given protections from censorship.There are concerns that encouraging Ofcom and the tech firms to establish a framework for “legal but harmful” content which must be addressed will give social media giants too much leeway in censoring views.But the government has promised that parliament will get to approve what types of “legal but harmful” content platforms must attempt to do more to tackle.Ruth Smeeth, chief executive of the Index on Censorship group, said the free speech protections in the bill “are not worth the paper they are written on”.She said: “The government has admitted to what we’ve been arguing for years. They are doing nothing about the fact that Silicon Valley has a stranglehold on our freedom of speech. In fact, their Online Safety Bill will give it even more muscle to censor our legal content.”The Open Rights Group – worried about the independence of the regulator when it comes to deciding what constitutes harmful material – said it was “Orwellian” and amounted to “state sanctioned censorship of legal content”.Attempting to reassure cynical Tory MPs and campaigners, Ms Dorries claimed the bill would help stop Silicon Valley chiefs being the “supreme arbiters” of freedom of speech online.“We would never pursue legislation that threatens freedom of expression … nor can we maintain the current status quo, where a handful of west coast execs are the supreme arbiters of online speech,” the cabinet minister wrote on ConservativeHome.Meanwhile, Labour said it supported the principles of the bill – but argued that long delays to the legislation had allowed disinformation by Vladimir Putin’s government and others to go unchecked for years.Lucy Powell MP, shadow culture secretary, said: “Delay to the Online Safety Bill has allowed the Russian regime’s disinformation to spread like wildfire. Other groups have watched and learned their tactics … delay up to this point has come with significant cost.” More

Rishi Sunak is under renewed pressure to halt next month’s £13bn rise in National Insurance contributions, after fresh research showed the UK is the only major world economy to be raising taxes on working people during the cost-of-living crisis. Labour called on the chancellor to ditch the 1.25 per cent hike lined up for both employees and employers on 6 April, using money he has reportedly stored away for pre-election sweeteners to voters.The research emerged as the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) revealed that soaring inflation means the chancellor will take in an additional £12.5bn from a “stealth tax” in last year’s Budget.When Sunak announced a four-year freeze in income tax thresholds last March, with inflation running around 1 per cent, the measure was expected to raise £8bn.But with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) now above 5 per cent and expected to rise as high as 8 per cent, the IFS said it now amounts to an effective £20.5bn in additional taxes.Tom Waters, a senior research economist for the IFS, said: “Usually tax thresholds go up in line with inflation.“The tax threshold freeze is now on track to be a £20.5bn tax hike – two and a half times what was originally expected. And this comes on top of the £13bn increase in National Insurance contributions (NICs) slated for next month.“This episode highlights the danger with setting tax thresholds in nominal terms for long periods of time – unexpected changes in inflation can make the size of a planned tax rise much bigger or smaller than expected.”Labour Treasury spokesperson Pat McFadden said that the NICs rise alone was equivalent to 0.5 per cent of GDP in additional taxes, at a time when households are facing rocketing bills for essentials like heating, petrol and food.By contrast, the party’s research found that Germany has tax cuts totalling 0.5 per cent of GDP lined up for 2022, Italy 0.2 per cent and France 0.1 per cent.Among other members of the G7 group of leading democracies, Canada and Japan have announced no personal tax rate increases, while the US Congressional Budget Office estimates falling tax revenue for 2022.“There are global factors driving up energy prices and inflation in many countries,” said Mr McFadden.“But what singles out the UK is this government’s decision to impose a tax rise on working people at the same time as energy and food prices are rising.“Why is the government so determined to make the cost of living crisis worse by pressing ahead with these tax rises now, particularly when the Treasury is constantly briefing that the Tory election grid has pencilled in tax cuts before the next election?”Announced in September last year, the NICs hike breached a Conservative manifesto promise not to raise the main personal taxes over the course of the parliament. It will result in a person earning £20,000 seeing NICs increase by £130 a year, and someone on £30,000 a year paying an additional £255.But prime minister Boris Johnson said the levy would help pay for the “biggest catch-up programme in the NHS’ history” as the health service attempts to clear the backlog of treatments delayed because of the Covid pandemic.From April next year, it will be rebranded the Health and Social Care Levy, and over time an increasing proportion will go towards the new cap on care costs designed to ensure that elderly home-owners do not have to sell their property to pay for care.Mr Sunak is coming under growing pressure to ditch the hike, or delay it for a year in the hope the cost-of-living crisis will have abated, including from restive Tory backbenchers worried that he is rising the overall tax take to levels not seen since the 1960s.But the chancellor and prime minister have stood firm, penning a joint article in January to state that they regard the levy as “the right plan” to fix the health and social care system.A HM Treasury spokesperson said: “The Health and Social Care Levy will provide a necessary, permanent source of funding to support the NHS and fix the social care system. “We’re providing around £21bn this financial year and next to help families with the cost of living, including targeted support for energy bills, cutting the Universal Credit taper rate to help those on low incomes keep more of what they earn, and freezes to alcohol and fuel duties to keep costs down. We are also raising the National Living Wage, meaning that people working full-time will see a £1,000 increase in annual earnings.” More

Boris Johnson has failed to secure commitments from Saudi Arabia to step up oil production to ease cost-of-living pressures, on a visit that was overshadowed by the announcement of three further executions in the desert kingdom.The prime minister said he had obtained an “understanding” from the Saudis that instability in world markets from a spike in energy prices caused by the Ukraine war was not in their interests.But asked whether he had secured assurances that the oil-rich Gulf state would turn on the taps, he could say only that it was a decision for them.“I think there’s certainly an understanding that there’s an interest for Saudi Arabia – for all oil-producing and exporting countries – in making sure that the global economy is not damaged by the current spikes, that we don’t get the kind of inflation that we saw in the 1970s, we don’t see the stagflation,” he said.“So it was a very productive conversation.”Asked if this meant an agreement had been reached, he replied: “I think you need to talk to the Saudis about that, but I think there was an understanding of the need to ensure stability in global oil markets and gas markets and the need to avoid damaging price spikes.”Mr Johnson faced criticism for meeting crown prince Mohammed bin Salman on a one-day trip – also taking in the United Arab Emirates – just days after Saudi Arabia announced the mass execution of 81 people on Saturday. Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner accused him of “begging” one dictator to bail him out after another had thrown his energy plans into disarray.And the furore was heightened when the state-run Saudi Press Agency said three more individuals had been executed while Mr Johnson was there.Maya Foa, the director of human rights advocacy group Reprieve, said: “By travelling to meet Mohammed bin Salman so soon after a mass execution, Boris Johnson clearly signalled that in return for oil, the UK will tolerate even the gravest human rights abuses.“Carrying out these executions while the leader of a western power is on Saudi soil was a provocative act, designed to flaunt the crown prince’s power and impunity to the world.”Ms Rayner blasted: “Last week the leader of the opposition [Keir Starmer] said that Britain should never again be at the mercy of a foreign dictatorship for our energy and fuel security.“This week, the prime minister has gone cap in hand from one dictator to another on a begging mission to the Saudi prince to bail him out.”Mr Johnson said he had raised human rights with his hosts, and insisted that “things are changing in Saudi Arabia” and he would continue to engage with the Gulf kingdom.“I think you can also see that – in spite of that news today – things are changing in Saudi Arabia,” he said.“We want to see them continue to change. And that’s why we see value in engaging with Saudi Arabia and why we see value in the partnership.”Mr Johnson said the crown prince had agreed with him that it was essential to see an end to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.Speaking at a manufacturing facility in Riyadh after a meeting with the prince which lasted around an hour and 45 minutes, he said: “We discussed everything that you would expect, so I raised human rights, but we also talked about what we can do to stabilise oil prices, to fight inflation, to help consumers, to help people at the gas pumps, at the petrol pumps.“A lot of agreement that it’s important to avoid inflation, to avoid the damaging economic consequences, an agreement that we need to work together to bring peace to Ukraine.“We both agreed that we need to see an end to Putin’s war.” More

David Frost has admitted his Brexit trade deal failed touring musicians and other artists by inflicting punishing costs and red tape, in an extraordinary U-turn.The negotiator of the agreement had staunchly defended the agreement – blamed for making many tours unaffordable – and refused to get involved in attempts to improve it.But, in a lecture delivered three months after he quit as Brexit minister, Lord Frost has now admitted it was a mistake not to compromise with the EU and called for a rethink.“We should take another look at mobility issues,” he said, 15 months after The Independent revealed he rejected such a deal in the Brexit talks.“There is a whole set of problems here that is making life difficult on both sides: youth mobility, movement of specialists like musicians and artists.”Lord Frost argued “these problems can be solved” without crossing the UK’s red line of ending free movement of EU citizens – despite ministers repeatedly insisting that is not possible.And he admitted he had been “too purist”, saying a deal removing “excessive paperwork and process requirements” is needed, adding: “We should try to get to it.”The peer also revealed the government did consider shifting to “a more pragmatic position” last year, claiming the “vaccine wars” with the EU made that “impossible”, but adding: “This time we should try harder.”The astonishing mea culpa comes amid continuing fears about the plight of musicians, denied the chance to further their careers, after the Brexit deal broke a promise to save visa-free touring.The UK rejected an EU offer to retain visa and permit-free tours, leaving artists mired in red tape, and no effort has been made to begin fresh talks with Brussels.Instead, ministers have made “misleading” claims about the paperwork involved – despite Boris Johnson’s vow to “fix” the crisis, made a year ago.Elton John has led criticism of the government for claiming 21 of the 27 EU countries are offering visa and work permit-free access, when severe restrictions still exist.Lord Frost’s comments were condemned as “an astonishing admission of guilt” by Labour MP Kevin Brennan, who has pursued the controversy as a member of the Commons culture committee.“Purist dogma has ruined successful British businesses and hit artists income hard –they will rightly be furious with an incompetent government that sacrificed them for no good reason.”Deborah Annetts, chief executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM), asked what ministers are “going to do to fix the problem”, following the admission. “So Lord Frost has finally admitted that the government may have been too purist and that the trade deal with Europe is making life difficult for musicians,” she said – adding it was, in fact, “a disaster”.Naomi Pohl, deputy general secretary of the Musicians Union, said: “This is a long overdue admission from Lord Frost that an arrangement to facilitate musicians touring would not undermine the government’s immigration policy.“What we need is an EU-wide deal which enables our members to tour in Europe or bilateral agreements with individual territories.”And Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive of UK Music, said: “These comments confirm everything the music industry has been warning about for more than a year now, and should be a call to action for ministers.“If even the chief negotiator believes we should look at mobility issues again, there is no excuse for government not to act on this.” More

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s daughter Gabriella is “beyond excited at the prospect of being reunited with her mummy” when the detainee arrives back in the UK this evening after six years of wrongful detention in Iran, her family’s lawyer has said.Lawyer Penny Madden said that the family had gone through “a roller-coaster of emotions” in the past few days, with husband Richard Ratcliffe unable to be sure until the last moment that his wife was in fact being released.It was only when he received a message from Nazanin with a picture of herself on board a plane – and when they got confirmation that her flight had actually taken off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport – that he was able to enjoy the “enormous relief and celebration” of knowing her ordeal was finally over.After initially following government advice to keep quite about his wife’s detention, Richard conducted a long and public campaign for her release, including two hunger strikes, outside the Iranian Embassy and the Foreign Office.Ms Madden, who spoke with Mr Ratcliffe shortly after his wife left Iran, said he felt”jJust enormous relief”.She told Sky News: “Even at the very end, there was a long wait. We knew that Nazanin was at the airport and couldn’t understand why things weren’t moving.“And then finally he got the confirmation and a photograph that Nazanin sent through to Richard that she was on the plane and you could see the plane windows behind. And then final confirmation of wheels up and they were in the air.“I think at that point the enormity that this ordeal of six years has come to an end has really hit everybody involved.”Ms Madden said it was possible Mr Ratcliffe might eventually seek an investigation into the handling of his wife’s case, but added: “Not today. What today is about is celebration and enormous relief.”She said: “Richard is the most remarkable person and Nazanin has been so strong, so stoic, both of them have been through absolute hell over the last six years, and I think they just need to have that time and space now to be reunited as a family and to be back together with Gabriella.”Seven-year-old Gabriella – who was with her mother as a toddler visiting grandparents when she was first arrested in Iran in 2016 and has been able to see her only sporadically since then – was being told about her mother’s journey home, said Ms Madden“She is obviously hugely excited,” she said. “Beyond excited at the prospect of being reunited with her mummy.“I think she will definitely be staying up and be allowed to stay up past her bedtime.”Ms Madden said it was “a real wrench” for Nazinin to leave her parents behind in Iran, knowing that it will be very for her to return.She had lived with them during periods of house arrest, and they were “hugely supportive and of course absolutely relieved to see their daughter reunited with her family,” she said.Asked whether the Ratcliffe family would push for an investigation, Ms Madden said: “I think it’s far too early to really speculate in relation to that.“I think there are clearly questions that need to be answered They are questions that we’ve been asking for many years now. I think ultimately, that’s a question for the Ratcliffe family, but I’m sure that there will be called for those questions to be answered and for those investigations to be made.“But not today. What today is about is celebration and enormous relief.” More

No 10 has refused to deny that Boris Johnson uses WhatsApp to communicate with Mohammed bin Salman – despite messages exchanged with the Saudi crown prince being blamed for the hacking of Jeff Bezos’ phone.The prime minister is in Saudi Arabia, hoping to exploit his “personal relationship” with the controversial leader to persuade him to open the oil taps, to ease the energy crisis sparked by the Ukraine war.The pair are reported to still be in “regular WhatsApp contact”, in stark contrast to the prince refusing to take a phone call from Joe Biden, because of fierce US criticism of him.Ministers have repeatedly been criticised, including by the Information Commissioner, for using private emails and social media to carry out official government business.And there is particular alarm over the use of WhatsApp to talk with bin Salman – after the Amazon founder was apparently sent a video containing a malicious file to infiltrate his phone.Asked if it is correct that Mr Johnson, nevertheless, has kept open his WhatsApp link, his spokesman claimed “security matters” prevented him from answering.“What I can say is I’ve talked, on a number of occasions, about the rules around how ministers, including the prime minister, uses those forms of communication,” he said.“The substantive government business is passed on through the private office – that that is what takes place.”The spokesman said it is “beneficial to the UK that we have strong relations with world leaders”, but added: “Beyond that, I won’t get into that in more detail.”The two leaders are known to have communicated privately as bin Salman sought to apply pressure to allow the Saudi-financed takeover of Newcastle United football club, last year.The prince urged Mr Johnson to intervene to “correct” the Premier League’s “wrong” decision to block the deal – reportedly threatening that UK-Saudi Arabian relations would be damaged otherwise.The prime minister asked Edward Lister, his special envoy for the Gulf, to take up the issue, who reportedly then told the prime minister: “I’m on the case. I will investigate.”Mr Bezos is thought to have been having a conversation with bin Salman when he was sent the video that contained the malicious file.It was claimed “large amounts of data” were acquired within hours, according to the investigation into the hacking which was reportedly carried out on the businessman’s behalf.In February 2019, Mr Bezos accused the National Enquirer of “extortion and Blackmail”, after the tabloid published texts between the billionaire and his girlfriend.Mr Johnson has promised to raise human rights concerns in his talks with the prince – but Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said the UK “cannot afford” to turn its back on Saudi oil. More