It’s a momentous day in the digital age. Years in the making, and with countless improvements to strengthen the legislation, today the Government is introducing its world-first Online Safety Bill to Parliament. It’s one of the most important things I’ve ever worked on – and it will finally bring some accountability to Silicon Valley.

No one can deny it’s needed. While the internet has been a huge force for good in our lives – we wouldn’t have survived the pandemic without it – there are some glaring exceptions to that rule. Ones that, in particular, horrify any parent.

Teenage girls are drawn into suicide chat rooms, or subjected to algorithms that litter their Instagram feeds with posts teaching them how to be bulimic or anorexic. Vulnerable users are radicalised online by terrorists, or stumble upon extreme pornography while browsing Twitter. A footballer misses a penalty and they’re bombarded with racist abuse. Grieving parents are trolled by ghouls.

The result? People too often face a lose-lose situation: stay on social media and face a daily torrent of hate, or close down their accounts and miss out on the huge benefits of a healthy online life. It shouldn’t have to be like this. Ask most members of the general public, and they will tell you the Government needs to act. In fact, in the vast majority of cases this behaviour is banned by the platforms themselves. They just do very little to enforce it. Thankfully, much needed change is here.

The Online Safety Bill will hold platforms to account in three key areas. Our absolute priority is protecting children and the vulnerable from harm. Social media companies will have a special duty to protect their youngest users. They’ll also have to urgently remove illegal content, such as child sexual abuse and terrorism.

The major platforms will also have to enforce their own terms and conditions against racism, misogny, anti-Semitism and other forms of toxic abuse. Lastly, they’ll face new responsibilities to protect free speech and journalism online. Facebook and others will no longer be able to arbitrarily silence users with the click of a mouse, without explanation or access to appeal.

If any of these companies fail in any of these things, they will suffer serious legal consequences. Huge billion-dollar fines will be coming their way. In the most egregious cases, Ofcom will have the power to block their sites, and to initiate criminal proceedings against named tech executives. That includes the very real possibility of jail time – and not years down the line, but shortly after this Bill becomes law.

In the original Bill, Ofcom would have had to wait at least two years to pursue senior managers in criminal court. I’ve reduced the period to two months – one of the many changes I’ve made to strengthen this legislation. Accountability is hurtling down the tracks towards Silicon Valley execs. They no longer have the luxury of looking the other way.

We have also listened to the Law Commission and created three new criminal offences in the Bill. Establishing these offences will help better address harmful online behaviours such as that of domestic abusers towards their victims, threats to rape, kill and inflict physical violence, and deliberately sharing dangerous disinformation about hoax Covid-19 treatments.

This is what civilised societies do. In countless areas of life we’ve passed certain laws to protect people from grievous harm. Fifty years ago, we made seat belts compulsory in the UK. They haven’t ruined driving – but they have saved countless lives.

And that’s what the Online Safety Bill is all about. It’s not about protecting adults from being offended online. It’s not about “cancelling” anyone. In fact, it contains stringent new protections for freedom of speech and journalism.

In recent weeks social media firms have been quietly lobbying MPs over lunch. They have said the Bill will somehow be used to push a “woke” agenda. I think this is the first time I have ever been called “woke” in my life. It’s hardly a surprise that some in the tech world don’t like the Bill. We’re about to make them do more to protect children and others online – a duty they have failed at, with catastrophic consequences in a number of tragic cases.

It’s time to think more about putting people’s safety first, rather than prioritising platform growth above all else. Our manifesto said we would make the UK the safest place in the world to go online. The Telegraph has rightly campaigned for a Duty of Care to protect users online. Today, we’ve moved one step closer to that goal.

Nadine Dorries is Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport