Included in the reforms are a “right to be forgotten” that will allow individuals to ask companies including social media firms for their data to be erased.

What are the new measures?

The Data Protection Bill proposes a package of new measures for consumers:

Right to be forgotten

Consumers will be able to ask businesses and organisations for access to their personal data and for it to be wiped, giving them more control over how their information is removed.

This measure is part of the European General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), but the UK law will extend this slightly by requiring social media companies to delete all of a person’s posts from before they were under 18, if they ask for it.

The requirement will be subject to some exemptions, but may cause a headache for businesses, some of whom may not have data stored in files or on analogue tapes, making it difficult to sort their data.