Hundreds of websites will be shut down on the day that Britain’s Online Safety Act comes into effect, in what are believed to be the first casualties of the new internet laws.
Microcosm, a web forum hosting service that runs 300 sites including cycling forums and local community hubs, said that the sites would go offline on March 16, the day that Ofcom starts enforcing the Act.
Its owner said they were unable to comply with the lengthy requirements of the Act, which created a “disproportionately high personal liability”.
The new laws, which were designed to crack down on illegal content and protect children, threaten fines of up to £18m or 10pc of revenue for sites that fail to comply with the laws.
On Monday, Ofcom set out more than 40 measures that it expects online services to follow by March, such as carrying out risk assessments about their sites and naming senior people accountable for ensuring safety.
Microcosm, which has hosted websites including cycling forum LFGSS since 2007, is run as a non-profit funded by donations and largely relies on users to follow community guidelines. Its sites attract a combined 250,000 users.
Dee Kitchen, who operates the service and moderates its 300 sites, said: “What this is, is a chilling effect [on small sites].
“For the really small sites and the charitable sites and the local sports club there’s no carve-out for anything.
“It feels like a huge risk, and it feels like it can be so easily weaponised by angry people who are the subject of moderation.
“It’s too vague and too broad and I don’t want to take that personal risk.”
Announcing the shutdown on the LFGSS forum, they said: “It’s devastating to just … turn it off … but this is what the Act forces a sole individual running so many social websites for a public good to do.”
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Source: Hundreds of websites to shut down under UK’s ‘chilling’ internet laws
Robin Edgar
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