The UK Government is not planning to offer watering down online safety legislation as part of a deal to exempt the UK from Donald Trump’s tariffs, a minister has said.
Angela Eagle said on Monday she had seen “no corroboration that that is likely to happen” when challenged over reports such a move was being considered as a way of placating the “tech bros” that surround the US President.
According to reports, there could be amendments to the Online Safety Act in exchange for a favourable deal on tariffs. The Act can fine US social media companies if they fail to take down harmful content.
But Eagle downplayed the suggestion during an interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday morning. She said she “can’t imagine that we would be in a situation where we would want to see a weakening rather than a strengthening of safeguards in that area”.
The Record has been calling for social media giants to face consequences over harmful content as part of the ‘Our Kids…Our Future’ campaign.
Eagle acknowledged that “tech bros in America” had become “very close” to the new Trump administration, but added: “I wouldn’t have thought there would be any justification whatsoever for keeping violent videos available across the globe.”
Tech company bosses such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos attended Trump’s inauguration last month, while X owner Elon Musk is a senior adviser to the president.
Eagle’s comments came in response to questions about the Government’s response to the murder of three young girls in Southport last year by a teenager who had watched violent videos online.
They also follow decisions by major social media companies to water down or abandon their content moderation systems that deal with harmful material, in some cases meaning videos viewed by Southport killer Axel Rudakubana are still available.
Companies that fail to comply with the Act face fines of up to £18 million or 10 per cent of a company’s global revenue even if they are based abroad.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose a series of tariffs, most recently on steel and aluminium imports.
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