Tue Nov 2, 2021 – 12:38 pm EDT
LONDON (LifeSiteNews) — British government ministers have included recommendations to criminalize those who publish “knowingly false information” as part of the proposed Online Safety Bill, with those convicted facing two years in prison.
A slew of new offenses was recommended to be added to the U.K.’s draft Online Safety Bill by the Law Commission — an independent British legal body made up of judges, solicitors, and barristers who advise reform periodically — and is expected to be raised in Parliament on December 10, when the bill officially begins its journey through Britain’s legislature.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport embraced the Law Commission’s recommendation “for crimes to be based on ‘likely psychological harm,’” The Times reported, creating new offenses related to “threatening communications” and “false communications.”
The intended focus of the revised offenses is purportedly to place less emphasis on the “content of a communication,” centering rather on its “potentially harmful effects.” This represents a significant broadening of the current standard of criminal assessment, which is based on whether a communication is “grossly offensive or indecent.”
“We believe this will more effectively protect freedom of expression and
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