I'll be hosting the ASI's next webinar on the Government's recently released Online Safety Bill this coming Tuesday. We have assembled a star-studded, expert lineup to unpack the issues at the heart of the proposed legislation.

The week after my colleague, Morgan Schondelmeier, will be hosting an equally high-power discussion about the changing tax consensus.

We also have new episodes of our podcast, The Pin Factory (iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts), available for your weekend listening.

Safety Without Freedom? The Online Safety Bill

Tuesday, 25 May 2021 at 6.00pm

The Government has now published a long-awaited draft of the ‘Online Safety Bill’. The Bill will create a “duty of care” on social media sites and search engines to safeguard users from both unlawful and “legal but still harmful” content as well as safeguard freedom of expression and democratically important content.

The Government claims this will make the UK the safest place in the world to surf the internet, protect free speech and tackle issues like child abuse, terrorism and racist abuse.

But critics, including the Adam Smith Institute, warn that it gives extraordinary power to the state and the regulator, Ofcom, to censor legal speech. There are also concerns about requirements to only display only child-friendly content, until a person verifies their age using a passport, drivers’ licence or credit card.

Then there are the huge regulatory costs. The Government’s impact assessment suggests the regime will cost £2.1 billion, including an extraordinary £1.7 billion expected to be spent on content moderation, particularly hurting smaller companies.

To discuss what the Online Safety Bill could mean for the future of the internet we have assembled a crack team.

Speakers:

• Matthew Lesh is the Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute and co-author of ASI paper, Safeguarding Progress: The risks of internet regulation.
• Victoria Hewson is the Head of Regulatory Affairs and Research Associate at the Institute of Economic Affairs’ and author of the IEA paper, More harm than good? The perils of regulating online content.
• Ruth Smeeth is the CEO of Index on Censorship and former Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North.
• Graham Smith is a leading internet and IT lawyer and co-author of the ‘Internet Law and Regulation’ textbook first published in 1996 and now on its 5th edition and writes the Cyberleagle blog.

Details:

Date: Tuesday, 25 May 2021
Time: 6.00pm - 7.00pm (UK time)

The webinar will begin at 6.00pm, with an audience Q&A session taking place at approximately 6.45pm. The webinar will conclude at 7.00pm.

The Changing Tax Consensus

Tuesday, 1 June 2021 at 6.00pm

We don't need to remind you of the certainty of taxes in this life.

However, in the face of unprecedented public spending and the need for rapid and sustained recovery from Covid, has our opinion on the specifics of fiscal rates or the theory that underpins them changed?

With international powers exploring a trendy multilateral tax consensus, growing public appetite for increased spending, and major political parties in the middle of soul-searching missions, are we seeing a realignment in partisan attitudes towards tax? What does a modern day tax policy look like?

We'll be answering all these questions and more with our panel of experts:

Speakers:

• Morgan Schondelmeier, Head of External Affairs at the ASI (host)
• Steve Baker MP, Conservative Member of Parliament for Wycombe and member of the Treasury Select Committee
• Polly Mackenzie, Chief Executive of Demos. Previously Polly served as Director of Policy to then-Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg
• Richard Teather, Owner of Tax Strategy Consultancy. Richard served as Senior Lecture in Tax Law at Bournemouth University for over 20 years, and is an ASI Fellow.

Details:

Date: Tuesday, 1 June 2021
Time: 6.00pm - 7.00pm (UK time)

The webinar will begin at 6.00pm, with an audience Q&A session taking place at approximately 6.45pm. The webinar will conclude at 7.00pm.

The Pin Factory

• The Great Unlocking, Vaccine Patents, and Covid Fictions with Dr Stuart Ritchie, King's College London
• British Midterms and Queen's Speech with Madeline Grant, Telegraph columnist and Parliamentary sketch writer
• Reopening Britain, Tobacco harm reduction and the UK's Economic Recovery with Chris Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs