LONDON: Facebook, Twitter and Chinese-owned TikTok face fines of up to 10 percent of turnover if they fail to remove and limit the spread of illegal content under laws proposed by Britain on Tuesday.
Tech platforms will also need to do more to protect children from being exposed to grooming, bullying and pornography, the government said, to ensure the safety of children online.
“We are entering a new age of accountability for tech to protect children and vulnerable users, to restore trust in this industry, and to enshrine in law safeguards for free speech,” Britain’s Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said.
Governments are wrestling over measures to better control illegal or dangerous content on social media, with the European Union set to unveil its own package on Tuesday.
Britain’s new rules, which will be introduced in legislation next year, could lead to sites which break the rules being blocked and senior managers held liable for content.
Popular platforms will be required to have clear policies for content that, while not illegal, could cause harm such as disseminating misinformation about COVID vaccines.
Dowden said the framework would give large digital businesses “robust rules” to follow.
Facebook and Google have said they would work with the government on the regulations. Both companies said they took safety extremely seriously and they had already changed their policies and operations to better tackle the issue.
“The safety of our online communities – our users and our creators – is our top priority, and so we haven’t waited for legislation to act,” said Ben McOwen Wilson, managing director of Google’s YouTube UK.
“We have worked with industry, community groups and the Government to tackle harmful content.”
Fast growing video-sharing platform TikTok, owned by China’s Bytedance, said it was looking forward to reviewing the proposals and working with the government to continue to strengthen online safety.
“At TikTok, safety isn’t a bolt-on or a nice-to-have, it’s our starting point to building a creative, diverse community,” a spokesman said.
British media regulator Ofcom will be given the power to fine companies up to $24 million or 10 percent of global turnover, whichever is higher, for breaking the rules.
It will also be able to block non-compliant services from being accessed in Britain.
Online journalism and reader comments on news publishers’ websites will be exempt to safeguard freedom of expression.
Facebook, Twitter face British fines if fail on harmful content
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Facebook, Twitter face British fines if fail on harmful content
- ‘We are entering a new age of accountability for tech to protect children and vulnerable users’
- Popular platforms will be required to have clear policies for content that, while not illegal, could cause harm
Paris exhibition marks 200 years of Le Figaro and the enduring power of the press
- The exhibition celebrated the bicentennial of Le Figaro, offering visitors a rare opportunity to step inside the newspaper’s vast historical archive
PARIS: One of France’s most influential newspapers marked a major milestone this month with a landmark exhibition beneath the soaring glass nave of the Grand Palais, tracing two centuries of journalism, literature and political debate.
Titled 1826–2026: 200 years of freedom, the exhibition celebrated the bicentennial of Le Figaro, offering visitors a rare opportunity to step inside the newspaper’s vast historical archive. Held over three days in mid-January, the free exhibition drew large crowds eager to explore how the title has both chronicled and shaped modern French history.
More than 300 original items were displayed, including historic front pages, photographs, illustrations and handwritten manuscripts. Together, they charted Le Figaro’s evolution from a 19th-century satirical publication into a leading national daily, reflecting eras of revolution, war, cultural change and technological disruption.
The exhibition unfolded across a series of thematic spaces, guiding visitors through defining moments in the paper’s past — from its literary golden age to its role in political debate and its transition into the digital era. Particular attention was paid to the newspaper’s long association with prominent writers and intellectuals, underscoring the close relationship between journalism and cultural life in France.
Beyond the displays, the program extended into live journalism. Public editorial meetings, panel discussions and film screenings invited audiences to engage directly with editors, writers and media figures, turning the exhibition into a forum for debate about the future of the press and freedom of expression.
Hosted at the Grand Palais, the setting itself reinforced the exhibition’s ambition: to place journalism firmly within the country’s cultural heritage. While the exhibition has now concluded, the bicentennial celebrations continue through special publications and broadcasts, reaffirming Le Figaro’s place in France’s public life — and the enduring relevance of a free and questioning press in an age of rapid change.
