Could the UK's Online Safety Bill change gaming worldwide?

gamesindustry.biz:

Frankie Everitt & John Brunning

Wednesday 4th May 2022

Creating safe, inclusive and engaging spaces for the gaming community has long been the goal of the gaming industry, with games businesses creating and implementing tools, features and processes to address illegal and unwanted behaviours and keep players safe online.

To date, this approach has largely been self-motivated, with only limited regulation; namely the take down requirements for unlawful content under the e-commerce regulations.

However, this is all set to change with the introduction of the UK's Online Safety Bill: a flagship policy for the UK government and a milestone change in the regulation of online platforms and services, ushering in a new era of accountability online. While headlines have focussed on the social media giants, the Bill, now at Select Committee stage in the House of Commons, will also have a significant impact across the gaming industry.

A draft bill was released publicly in May last year, with both UKIE and TIGA engaging in the process on behalf of the games industry, and the Bill has been significantly strengthened and refined as a result of such scrutiny and feedback. Nevertheless, it retains at its core the same statutory duties of care aimed at keeping users, particularly children, safe online.

As currently drafted, the Bill will apply to online user-to-user services and search services where those services have links to the United Kingdom.

While there is some complexity in the detail, broadly speaking you will fall in scope if your online game or platform:

There are some exceptions to this -- one-to-one live oral communications (such as live chat functions) for example will be exempt. However, if your game also includes written