Tech secretary Michelle Donelan has said harmful internet content “does not respect borders” and called on the US to follow the UK in introducing online safety legislation.
Speaking at the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) annual conference in Washington DC, Donelan said the US should follow the example of the Online Safety Act, passed last month, and implement its own guardrails to protect children from harmful content on the internet.
“These are the values that Britain has pioneered for centuries, and they are also the values that made the extraordinary story of the United States possible,” said Donelan
“The online world does not respect borders, and those who wish to do our children harm should not be undeterred by this sense that they can get away with it in some countries and not in others.”
The tech secretary said the tech companies will no longer be able to run “wild west platforms” and that Britain’s Ofcom will collaborate with overseas regulators, including in the US, to share information on online safety.
The speech comes as part of Donelan’s US tour, which began on Monday. As part of her trip, Donelan will meet with social media executives in Silicon Valley to discuss their role in the Online Safety Act.
“What I will be telling them, is that the Online Safety Act is less about companies doing what the government is asking them to do – it is about the companies doing what their users are asking them to do.”
UKTN understands that the tech secretary will also visit the headquarters of Hewlett Packard and NASA to discuss international collaboration on space exploration and research.
Donelan is also expected to discuss the UK’s position as an investment destination and its work on AI safety with tech leaders.