- It requires companies to evaluate how likely children are to come across harmful content
- It mandates they replace harmful provisions with new ones to boost free speech
UK legislators passed the Online Safety Bill on Tuesday, which includes internet safety and will also cover the metaverse, the government wrote in a press release. The bill, which was introduced earlier this year, requires companies to evaluate how likely users are to come across illegal content and the risk of children coming across potentially harmful content.
Businesses also need to find ways to reduce these risks, a requirement that lawmakers expect will enhance safety and freedom online.
Boosting free speech
The bill will mandate companies replace legal, but harmful provisions with new ones to boost free speech and hold tech firms accountable. In addition, it will introduce stricter measures to protect women and girls from coercive or controlling behavior.
MP and Department for Culture, Media and Sport minister Lord Stephen Parkinson commented:
The metaverse is in scope of the bill, which, as noble Lords know, has been designed to be technology neutral and future-proofed to ensure that it keeps pace with emerging technologies.
King Charles must now approve the bill, which will take effect immediately thereafter unless a later date is set.
Risks for children
Children face many and varied dangers in the metaverse, with the biggest one being online predators. Predators strike easily in a virtual world, where children can be anyone they want. Cyberbullying is another risk. In the absence of in-person contact, children can be cruel to one another without facing consequences.
Last but not least, there is the danger of addiction. Children can get lost in the metaverse and forget about the real world. This risk existed with video games and social media.
New possibilities for hackers
The metaverse and modern organizations face identical cybersecurity risks, but the metaverse presents additional vulnerabilities for hackers to take advantage of. They can hack into an account to access bank details, NFTs, personal messages, photos, avatars, etc.
