Lord Frost is at the head of a Tory revolt over proposed duty of care laws that they fear will allow “woke prejudice” to stifle free speech.

The former Brexit minister is urging ministers to “take a fresh look” at their Online Safety Bill because of the threat to free speech from proposed requirements for technology giants to curb “harmful” content even though it may not be illegal.

The MPs and peers fear that content may be unjustifiably deemed harmful and censored because of the companies’ “woke” prejudices or algorithms.

The Bill will require social media firms to block and remove any illegal content such as terrorist material or child abuse images or face multi-billion pound fines.

‘Legitimate views may be silenced’ 

MPs support these aims but object to proposals to create a duty to curb “legal but harmful” content such as some types of online abuse or inflammatory comments. The concern is that some legitimate political views may be deemed “harmful” by overzealous social media companies.

It is understood the Government is planning to address some of these concerns, but still plans to retain the proposals to tackle “harmful” content.

The culture department said tech firms would be required to have effective appeals mechanisms against the removal of content and have to reinstate it if taken down in error.

This will be overseen by the watchdog Ofcom and there would be no requirement to remove legal content accessed by adults. News publishers are exempt from the regulations and tech firms must have clear policies to protect journalistic content.

‘Let’s pause for more discussion’ 

Lord Frost told The Telegraph: “The Government would be wise to take a fresh look at the Online Safety Bill before beginning discussion in Parliament. Aspects of it present a real risk to freedom of expression in this country.

“It clearly hasn’t been properly thought through in all its aspects and it would be better to pause, have further discussion, and get things right. 

John Hayes, former security minister, backed censoring porn, gambling, self-harm and similar content but added: “It is very important in the proper effort to control the excesses of the internet that we don’t allow free speech to be inhibited by woke prejudices about what views are acceptable.”

The Government is due to publish its Bill before Easter and has already been urged by the Commons culture committee to toughen protections for free speech and give Parliament a right to debate the type of content that might be designated as “harmful” to adults or children.

David Davis, former Cabinet minister, warned that the Government faced “problems” in the Commons if it sought to regulate legal but harmful content.

“The proposed legal action on legal but harmful [content] represents a massive misunderstanding of the way the web works. It represents a massive misunderstanding of the importance of free speech,” he said. 

Steve Baker, former minister, warned: “Some people will take offence at more or less anything – does that make it harmful? Once again, we see a lack of clarity that could be profoundly dangerous [to free speech].”

Government says Bill must not be delayed

A Government spokesman said: “This Bill follows years of intensive work, extensive drafting and has been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny via a joint committee of both houses.

“Following feedback from a range of stakeholders it includes strong protections to uphold freedom of speech and prevent social media platforms arbitrarily removing content.

“Delaying its introduction will only hold back putting much-needed accountability on tech platforms to keep children and the vulnerable safe online.”