Closing Loopholes

What followed this single-planned interview was one of my busiest ever days - literally following the Secretary of State and PM across ten of the UK’s largest broadcasters, explaining the issues around social media and the Online Safety Act the government were dealing with, and why I firmly believe it’s disingenuous to put the blame solely at the feet of Big Tech.

Sometime after lunch when I heard my own voice pumping through the speakers at the Exeter services, I finally twigged why I felt an overwhelming sense of deja vu - it wasn’t just answering the same questions multiple times. I had been here before when the games industry was facing a number of regulatory challenges - often being painted as irresponsible, profit hungry villains that loved controversy and played hard and fast with the lives of young people.

It took years, but with hard work that perception has been successfully transformed - with BBFC and PEGI being seen as responsible ways of safeguarding young people, and UKIE praised for awareness raising and education. As the games industry matured - it showed that self regulation didn’t mean you have to go full Colonel Kurtz. But with the government realising that bringing industries “to account” is popular business - it would be easy for the games industry to take a step backwards through foolish mistakes.

A year or so back I was involved in putting together an exclusive for LBC around a wholly inappropriate rape and incest game promoted on Steam - with a tickbox all that was required to view and buy it. Keen to give Valve a chance to respond, we gave them at least six chances over a week to give us a quote or an interview. All were completely ignored. At the time, the Tech Secretary told us Valve would be compelled to remove them under the Online Safety Act - until Ofcom sheepishly confirmed Steam was not covered by the-then shiny law. The game was removed by the developer - but the government did not forget, and now, advisors have confirmed that Marketplaces like Steam will feature in the Online Safety Act do-over.

It’s easy to think the government would never come after the games industry with suggestions of a ban or tighter regulation for younger players - but bad behaviour could inadvertently screw up decades of hard work - and that would be almost as terrible as hearing your voice while having a ‘rest stop’ in an M5 toilet.