On February 26, Factum, with the support of the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), officially launched a policy report titled “Online Safety’s Impact on Human Rights and Digital Governance.”
As part of this launch, a panel discussion titled “Case for and Against the Online Safety Act” was organized. Ashwini Natesan (Research Fellow, LIRNEasia) participated as one of the panellists, alongside Prihesh Ratnayake (Research Specialist, Factum) and Benislos Thushan (Attorney-at-law and Development Practitioner). The panel was moderated by Omar Rajaratnam (Executive Director, Factum).
One of the questions raised to Ashwini was, “What are the three main concerns with the Online Safety Act?” In her response, she reiterated that, whilst the Act needs to be redrafted, the main concerns she would highlight are: 1) wide definitions that are broad and vague; 2) there is question whether an Online Safety Commission is needed in the first place, considering the feasibility and the resources required for it to function, leaving that aside, even if a commission were to exist, the nomination and appointment process of the Commission would certainly need to be rethought; and 3) the need to review internet intermediary liability, particularly the inclusion of criminal penalties.
Ashwini Natesan at the “Case for and Against the Online Safety Act” panel discussion
