The Government's new Online Safety Bill will be 'catastrophic' for ordinary people's freedom of speech, former minister David Davis warned today.
The Conservative MP said forcing social networks to take down content in Britain they deem unacceptable 'seems out of Orwell's 1984'.
Mr Davis, 72, slammed the idea Silicon Valley firms could take down posts they think are 'not politically correct - even though it is legal'.
The backbencher's calls were echoed by the Index on Censorship magazine and a top media barrister.
They have launched the 'Legal to Say. Legal to Type' campaign to scrutinise and push back against the bill.
Tory MP David Davis, pictured on June 8 in the House of Commons, said forcing social networks to take down content in Britain they deem unacceptable 'seems out of Orwell's 1984'
Mr Davis said: 'The Online Safety Bill is a Censor's Charter. Lobby groups will be able to push social networks to take down content they view as not politically correct, even though the content is legal.
'The idea we should force Silicon Valley companies to police Briton's speech online, seems out of Orwell's 1984, and is not what our voters expect of us.'
The proposed Online Safety Bill is intended to make tech giants accountable for 'harmful' content on their platforms.
It hands more power to Ofcom, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and social media platforms to regulate what news users see on social media.
It says platforms have a duty to protect journalistic content but can still take down or block content if it generates complaints.
Ofcom will be in charge of regulating social media firms, with the power to issue fines up to £18million and block access for repeat offences.
The aim is to make Britain one of the safest places to be online in the world - especially for children.
But its implications for the press have prompted a backlash from free-speech campaigners, civil liberties groups and media organisations.
The proposed Online Safety Bill gives more power to Ofcom, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden (pictured in May) and social media platforms to regulate what news users see on social media
The coalition of Mr Davis, Index on Censorship and Gavin Millar QC is trying to push back against it.
They say the bill will create two tiers of free speech online - free speech for journalists and politicians and censorship for ordinary citizens.
A report by Index On Censorship warned the 'Duty of Care model' in the bill is overly simplistic.
It says the new rule would force tech platforms to delete posts that are legal under laws passed by Parliament but considered 'harmful'.
The group say the bill does not define what is and is not 'harmful' which will see legal posts being banned online.
They also warned the proposals would outsource internet policy from the law, courts and Parliament to Silicon Valley.
Mr Millar QC said the Duty of Care framework will see free speech online deleted and suggests it will likely be challenged in the courts.
He said: 'The bill proposed by the government is likely to lead to perfectly legal speech being removed from the internet and it seems
