All articles tagged with #content regulation
The UK's new Online Safety Act, aimed at protecting minors from harmful content, has led to widespread content restrictions on international platforms, prompting backlash, legal challenges, and increased use of VPNs, highlighting tensions between online safety regulations and free speech.
Valve has updated Steam's rules to allow banks and credit card companies to prohibit certain types of adult content, potentially leading to increased censorship and arbitrary content removal, especially affecting non-conforming or queer projects, due to pressure from financial institutions and the current political climate in the US.
Nepal has announced that it will ban TikTok, citing the app's negative effects on social harmony and family structures. The decision was made due to the consistent sharing of content that disrupts social relations. Internet service providers have been asked to close the app, and more than 1,600 TikTok-related cybercrime cases have been registered in Nepal over the past four years. Opposition leaders criticize the move, calling for regulation rather than restriction, while TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, rejects accusations of being under Beijing's control.
The European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA) will require 19 large online platforms and search engines, including Facebook, TikTok, and Amazon, to comply with new regulations aimed at cracking down on illegal and harmful content. These platforms will have to swiftly remove illegal content, assess and address major risks such as disinformation and cyberbullying, and be more transparent about their operations. The European Commission can issue fines of up to 6% of a company's annual global revenue and temporarily ban non-compliant tech companies. The platforms will also have to pay a fee to fund enforcement efforts.
India has requested streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney to have their content independently reviewed for obscenity and violence before being shown online. The proposal, delivered at a meeting in June, aims to address concerns raised by lawmakers and the public regarding obscene and vulgar content on streaming platforms. The government has suggested the formation of an expert panel for age ratings and content review, but the industry has objected, citing potential negative impacts on growth and employment. India's streaming market is projected to be worth $7 billion by 2027.
Livestreamed violent content on social media platforms, such as the recent shooting of a Minneapolis man, pose a challenge for social media companies to regulate. While social media platforms want to be an immediate source of information, they also need to police offensive conduct. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has added language to address videos of violent death, but it is up to the company to make judgments about what content stays up and what goes down as there is no government regulation of the internet in this context.