A new press law in Britain has bloggers and social media users concerned about increasing regulations and censorship. The law would have the power “to issue harsh sanctions on misbehaving publications, including fines of up to 1 million pounds ($1.5 million, 1.2 million euros),” reports Global Post. The law comes in the wake of a phone-hacking scandal at a popular Rupert-Murdoch owned tabloid.
While the new royal charter predominantly regulates news publishers, online communities and bloggers feared they would be at risk, since the new system is ambiguous.
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But the Department for Culture, Media and Sport reassured bloggers they wouldn’t be affected.
“What Leveson was talking about was newspapers — national and local — and newspaper-type websites,” said a DCMS spokesperson. “It’s not people who are writing a blog.”
The new watchdog will have the ability to force publications “to issue upfront apologies for inaccurate or intrusive stories, as well as offering a free arbitration system for victims.”
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