Timelines
The Bill has been a long time in development. And, it will be a long time after Royal Assent before all the elements of the regulatory framework are up and running, given how much of it depends on secondary legislation and the production of, and consultation on, codes and guidance. We set out the timeline to date below and refer members to OFCOM’s roadmap of July 2022 for their best guess at the timeline ahead. Notwithstanding the extensive preparatory work OFCOM is undertaking behind the scenes to prepare for its new powers, the subsequent delays to the Bill will have pushed all those indicative dates further to the right. It will now be mid-2025 (at the earliest) before the full regime is implemented.
The Online Safety Bill: the story so far
October 2017
DCMS (under Karen Bradley) publishes the Internet Safety Strategy Green Paper
April 2018
DCMS (under Matt Hancock) publishes the Green Paper response and signals intention to legislate
April 2019
DCMS (under Jeremy Wright) publishes the Online Harms White Paper, which proposes a “duty of care” framework, based on Carnegie UK’s proposal
February 2020
DCMS (under Nicky Morgan) publishes the initial Government response to the Online Harms White Paper
December 2020
DCMS (under Oliver Dowden) publishes the full Government response to the Online Harms White Paper
May 2021
DCMS (still under Oliver Dowden) publishes the draft Online Safety Bill
June-July 2021
Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Online Safety Bill by a Joint Committee
December 2021
Joint Committee publishes its report
March 2022
DCMS (under Nadine Dorries) publishes Government response to the Joint Committee report and introduces full Online Safety Bill into Commons
May-June 2022
Committee stage of the Online Safety Bill
July 2022
Online Safety Bill completes 1st day of Report; 2nd day postponed
December 2022
DCMS (under Michelle Donelan) announces changes to the Bill ahead of delayed second day of Report stage. Bill is recommitted to Public Bill Committee
January 2023
Third day of Commons Report and Third Reading. Bill passes to the Lords.