Action needed to stop harmful and misleading online content
The Scottish Greens are proposing major changes to defamation law to make online media platforms safer for everyone, to tackle the rise of extremist and conspiracy content.
The party’s 2026 Holyrood manifesto will include a call for online platforms such as social networks and online media to be classified as publishers for the purposes of defamation law. This would force them to take responsibility for what is posted on their sites, including misinformation and extremist content.
At present in the UK, you can report illegal and harmful online material but in practice the tech giants and billionaires who run these sites are under no obligation to remove it or tackle the root cause.
With the spread of misinformation and dangerous content inciting hatred and violence, the Scottish Greens are saying more must be done to ensure that platforms will be subject to legal action if they don’t make their online spaces safer.
Scottish Greens MSP Patrick Harvie said:
“The internet is no longer just a fun place to spend a few hours playing, hanging out or working. We are living in a time where more of our lives are being lived online, and with that comes new threats of harm that we’ve never been subjected to before.
“There has been a dramatic increase in the amount of extremist and conspiracy content being shared online, on a variety of social media platforms. People are feeling real fear, being subjected to graphic, violent and fake content, as well as disinformation, and it’s giving rise to real life danger from the toxic ideas being spread online.
“What started as the bad behaviour of a few individuals on the fringes has grown to really dangerous proportions, and the billionaire tech bosses are barely even bothering to moderate it.
“It’s essential that we put measures in place to ensure that the owners of these platforms are subject to the law.
“That is why we will ensure new media platforms are treated as publishers under defamation law. A digital world is here to stay, so we need to take every step to make that as safe as we can for people to exist in.”