The Online Safety Bill is a newly proposed law that would imprison British citizens for up to two years for posting knowingly false information. The law would require social media companies and search engines to remove harmful content as well as criminalize those who send or post a message intending to cause emotional, psychological, or physical harm to an adult of ordinary sensibilities. The government cited anti-vaxxers as an example of those who spread false information they know to be untrue. The bill, if passed, would create a two-tiered system in which journalists’ speech rights are protected as democratic importance, while others are not.
