Open call by UK civil society to exempt public interest projects from the Online Safety Bill 

To His Majesty’s Government and the UK Parliament

The UK’s Online Safety Bill (OSB) addresses important safety issues to protect children and adults online. However, in its current state, the Bill unduly threatens the survival and welfare of projects that prioritise the public interest over profits. The Bill neglects to protect free knowledge, privacy, freedom of speech, and the strength of civic society in the UK.  

The signatory coalition represented in this letter includes organisations from across the cultural, scientific, and charitable landscape. They run or support projects that are used by and benefit a wide cross-section of the UK public: from young people to retirees; professionals to amateurs; and those with global, national, or hyper-local interests. Wikipedia, open science initiatives, crowdsourced UK heritage catalogues, and other public interest projects are the most socially, culturally, and scientifically valuable parts of the web.  

In an attempt to weed out the worst parts of the internet, the OSB jeopardises the best parts of the internet. So, we are calling on the UK Government and Parliament to exempt public interest projects from the OSB. 

Our coalition, and supportive members of the House of Lords, are urging the UK Government to act. Fixing this is simple; it requires adding a new paragraph to Schedule 1 of the Bill, exempting public interest projects (see this letter’s accompanying FAQ). Should the Government fail to act, Parliament will need to make the necessary changes itself. The Bill’s upcoming Lords “Report Stage” voting, starting July 6^th, is the UK’s best and final opportunity to enact this change. 

We hope the UK Government will take swift action to protect the best parts of the internet — public interest projects that uplift civic society and promote access to knowledge online. 

Yours faithfully

The signatories

• Arcadia Fund
• Big Brother Watch
• CILIP
• CILIP Scotland
• Code The City
• Creative Commons
• FixMyStreet / mySociety
• Flickr Foundation
• Global Partners Digital
• Inspire High Energy Physics
• Liberty
• London College of Communication
• Open Plaques
• Open Rights Group
• Open Scotland
• The Heritage Alliance
• The Mixed Museum
• Wellcome Sanger Institute
• Wikimedia Foundation
• Wikimedia Italia
• Wikimedia UK
• Zooniverse

• Dr Andrea Wallace, The GLAM-E Lab & SCuLE at the University of Exeter, Exeter Law School
• Dr Amanda Crawley-Jackson, Associate Dean Knowledge Exchange, University of the Arts London: London College of Communication
• Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia
• Oliver Creighton, Professor of Archaeology and President of the Society for Medieval Archaeology, University of Exeter
• Professor Peter Cox, Director of the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter

Co-signatories