This is a joint petition by Take Back Big Tech and  Stop Funding Hate.

We want to make social media platforms pay for the harm they cause.

Social media companies are profiting from harm, lies and division. 

Algorithms favour outrage and push out dangerous content, while complaints vanish into black holes. And when platforms get it wrong (e.g. removing your post unfairly, suspending your account, or leaving up content that fuels real-world hate and violence), you have no one to turn to but the very company that failed you.

We’re here to change that: we want to make them pay. But we need your help to make it happen.

How do citizens reclaim this power when we're dependent on social media by design?

Social media platforms have been designed in such a way that we can't live without them. For instance, for community spaces, staying informed, or finding work. Then, they made themselves judge, jury, and executioner  of what gets posted, what goes viral, and what gets deleted on these platforms. It's like letting a polluter decide whether their factory is actually contaminating the water.

They have made the water dirty. So, rather than just try to reduce our reliance on it, or ban teenagers from using it, we want to make these Big Tech “polluters" pay. 

But how exactly do we do that?

Europe already solved this

A few years ago, the EU recognised this problem and acted. Under their Digital Services Act, users can challenge platform decisions through independent, certified bodies which have no stake in protecting the companies they oversee.

The results speak for themselves: platforms lose roughly three out of every four appeals. Either their original decision was wrong, or they couldn't even provide basic information to justify it, or they didn’t bother cooperating. And there are real (financial!) consequences: platforms pay an average of £300 for every successful appeal against them.

It's working right now for millions of Europeans, and UK users deserve the same. How can the UK adopt the same accountability measures?

The UK already has the law, it just isn't being used

Section 217 of the Online Safety Act gives the government power to establish independent appeals. But there's a catch: the Government must commence the law before Ofcom can take the first steps to make it a reality.  

Every day of delay is another day users are left without any power to hold these platforms accountable for the harms they cause; another day where platforms are able to evade accountability, and allow dangerous content to be amplified while legitimate posts get removed. 

What we're demanding

We call on the UK Government to:

• Commence independent dispute resolution mechanisms under the Online Safety Act
• Create a fair, transparent process where platforms face real consequences when they fail

This is democratic accountability in action. The law is already in place, and the European model proves it works. The only thing missing is public pressure and political will.

Sign this petition to demand that when social media platforms fail to keep people safe, they pay the price.