Should tech companies be held responsible for crimes committed on their platforms?
The UK's Online Safety Act 2023 requires user-to-user and search services to assess risks of illegal content including fraud, child sexual exploitation, terrorism and newly added offences like cyberflashing and self-harm encouragement. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 adds duties such as 48-hour takedown for intimate images, extends rules to some AI services, and creates personal criminal liability for senior managers who fail to act on certain harms. Ofcom enforces with fines up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue or £18 million and can investigate non-compliance.
5 Opinions
Comparing a tech platform to a hammer manufacturer isn't quite hitting the nail on the head... If you pardon the pun. Platforms are the digital equivalent of a landlord knowingly renting to a fraud ring while providing the locks and the advertising. Platforms track our every click; they know exactly what they host. Of course, they shouldn't be criminally liable for a single rogue user, but failing to act on systemic harms is active complicity
Should knives or hammers producers be responsible for all crimes done where their tools were used? Individual responsibility is a key to justice.
No. While it is more technically feasible than it is for businesses selling physical goods, like hammers, it is still not 100 per cent reliable. This site blocked me from saying "you are the b*tt of the joke", and the reverse applies. It's very hard to detect every form of words which might incite.
If they don’t take reasonable measures to prevent crimes then they become complicit
Obviously not. Again, we already have laws for prosecuting crimes that don’t require burdening companies with the threat of retaliation because someone did a “hate speech” or something.