The UK government announced today a set of online safety laws designed to hold the companies behind social media platforms liable for the harmful behavior spreading through their platforms. As detailed in the Online Harms White Paper joint proposal published by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and the UK Home Office, the law package "comprises legislative and non-legislative measures and will make companies more responsible for their users’ safety online, especially children and other vulnerable groups." At the moment the Online Harms White Paper is under an open consultations status which will allow the government to collect opinions from "organizations, companies, and others with relevant views, insights or evidence" regarding the future online safety regulatory framework, a consultation which will end at 23:59, on July 1, 2019. UK's proposed online safety laws will appoint an independent regulator to enforce the future standards which will force social media companies and tech firms alike to follow a mandatory "duty of care" to protect users while using their platform, with heavy fines to be issued if they fail to deliver. Right now, the regulator which will enforce the future framework is not yet appointed and the UK Government is yet to decide if it should be a new or an already existing body. "The internet can be brilliant at connecting people across the world - but for too long these companies have not done enough to protect users, especially children, and young people, from harmful content," said Prime Minister Theresa May. "That is not good enough, and it is time to do things differently." Get caught up by visiting OUR FORUM.