Keenan Gives Evidence to Communications and Digital Committee

On Tuesday, 9 September, GCDC member Dr Bernard Keenan gave oral evidence to the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee as part of its inquiry into the Online Safety Act 2023.

During the session, Dr Keenan discussed the uncertainties surrounding the Act’s implementation, including how recommender systems will handle political content. He cautioned against setting unrealistic expectations of what the Act could do in terms of, for example, preventing incitement of riots.

Noting the unique nature of the Act, which has no clear precedent, Dr Keenan welcomed the iterative approach adopted by Ofcom and emphasised the importance of transparency reporting and continuous risk assessments. He also stressed the need for Parliament to be involved at all stages in order to better understand not only what platforms are doing but also how the public responds to them.

Additionally, Dr Keenan discussed the age verification requirements in the Act, suggesting that the failure to induce public trust in verification procedures has resulted in users seeking to bypass them.

Also giving evidence at the session were Dr Beatriz Kira, Assistant Professor in Law at the University of Sussex, and Dan Sexton, Chief Technology Officer at the Internet Watch Foundation.

The full session is available to watch on parliamentlive.tv.