THE government is looking at ways to regulate harmful content shared on platforms such as Snapchat, Facebook and TikTok by aligning its legislation with that of Europe.
Home Affairs Minister Mary Le Hegarat said in a Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel hearing that officers were considering regulating online platforms through the European Commission’s Digital Services Act.
This comes after panel chair Deputy Catherine Curtis expressed her “disappointment” when it emerged that Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel had turned down Parliament’s offer to extend the UK Online Safety Act to Jersey through a “permissive extent clause”.
At the time, Children’s Minister Richard Vibert explained that Jersey could develop its own legislation, which was more suited to the Island.
Deputy Curtis then sought in the Scrutiny hearing “reassurances about what is planned to take [the Online Safety Act’s] place”.
Deputy Le Hegarat reiterated her commitment to “pursuing new legislation in relation to online safety”.
She said: “Officers are exploring options to introduce the regulation of online platforms through alignment with the European Commission’s Digital Services Act.”
The Digital Services Act 2022, which updated the Electronic Commerce Directive 2000, is intended to govern the content moderation practices of social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and others.
Its main goal is to prevent illegal and harmful activities online and the spread of disinformation, while ensuring user safety, protecting fundamental rights, and creating a fair and open online platform environment.
Deputy Le Hegarat added that she planned to criminalise cyber-flashing and the use of deep fakes through amendments to the Sexual Offences (Jersey) Law 2018, and that cyber-stalking would be criminalised under the new stalking offence, as outlined previously in her plan to tackle violence against women and girls.
She explained: “We need to be aware that sometimes we don’t take on UK legislation, and it is better for us to see what parts of that legislation are more relevant to us.
“Our work to implement the recommendations in the Violence Against Women and Girls report will result in legislative developments similar to those brought in by the Online Safety Act anyway.”
Deputy Curtis said she was concerned that children in Jersey would “lose out” on protections granted to children in the UK.
