A Cycle of Censorship: The UK White Paper on Online Harms and the Dangers of Regulating Disinformation

This document contains two parts. The first is a summary of the UK Government Online Harms White Paper, including an overview of the arguments around it, responses to it and associated proposals by UK organisations in this field. The second part proposes a way for the UK Government to reframe the challenge of “disinformation” as currently formulated in the White Paper. It argues that the current approach to combatting “disinformation” risks reinforcing a cycle of censorship worldwide – when the UK’s publicly avowed role is to support freedom of expression globally. Another way forward is possible, one that strengthens the UK’s commitments to upholding democratic values and human rights while combatting online deception.