Range of potential measures announced by Ofcom include reducing risk of accounts being hijacked for scams
Big tech platforms will be required to ban scam advertisers in the UK under proposals to tackle online fraud.
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X and YouTube will have to block bad actors who post fraudulent ads and prevent them from creating new accounts in a range of measures targeted at the biggest services.
Continue reading...Culture secretary says her department will stop using platform, citing concerns over far-right content fuelling violence and division
The UK’s culture and media department will stop using X because the site “now favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate”, Lisa Nandy has announced.
The culture secretary’s department is the UK’s second to quit the Elon Musk-owned platform over increasing concerns about the way it highlights and prioritises often inaccurate far-right and racist content and is used to incite violence and division.
Continue reading...Media regulator announces commitments by Elon Musk’s platform to crack down on terrorist and hate content
Elon Musk’s X platform has promised to block UK access to accounts linked to banned terrorist groups under an agreement with the communications regulator to crack down on terrorist and hate content.
X will also review suspected illegal terrorist and hate content within 48 hours and seek expert advice on how to handle user reports of such content.
Continue reading...Mayor says disinformation, including about London crime rates, is ‘eating away at basic bonds of trust’
Sadiq Khan has called on ministers to take significantly stronger action against social media companies that spread disinformation after a study showed a surge in hostile accounts posting falsehoods about London’s crime rates and integration.
In an intervention on what he called “the outrage economy”, the London mayor, who has also written to social media firms demanding change, said a lack of action could prompt more domestic terrorism by people who believe conspiracy theories they find online.
Continue reading...Rights bodies say new law and proscription of direct action group create risk of censorship of Gaza-related content
The Online Safety Act together with the proscription of Palestine Action could result in platforms censoring Palestinian-related content, human rights organisations have warned.
Open Rights Group, Index on Censorship and others have written to Ofcom calling on it to provide clear guidance to platforms on distinguishing lawful expression from content deemed to be in support of terrorism.
Continue reading...Elon Musk’s social media platform says lawmakers made a ‘conscientious decision’ to increase censorship
Elon Musk’s X platform has said the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) is at risk of “seriously infringing” free speech as a row deepens over measures for protecting children from harmful content.
The social media company said the act’s “laudable” intentions were being overshadowed by its aggressive implementation by the communications watchdog, Ofcom.
Continue reading...Beeban Kidron says it is not ‘nanny state’ to prevent firms investing billions on making platforms addictive from targeting under-18s
A leading online safety campaigner has urged the UK government to “detoxify the dopamine loops” of addictive social media platforms as tech companies prepare to implement significant child protection measures.
Beeban Kidron, a crossbench peer, asked the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, to use the Online Safety Act to bring forward new codes of conduct on disinformation and on tech features that can lead to children becoming addicted to online content.
Continue reading...Deliveries will also alternate on weekdays to reflect changing behaviour of users but critics say regulator has let courier off the hook
Royal Mail has been given the green light to drop Saturday deliveries of second-class letters and provide services only on alternating weekdays from Monday to Friday under new rules announced by the regulator.
Ofcom said that reforms of the universal services obligation (USO) reflected changing behaviour of postal users, with fewer letters being sent across the country. The regulator said it could end up saving the postal delivery service between £250m and £425m each year.
Continue reading...Ofcom says research shows need for stricter age checks being introduced in July, which most major sites have signed up to
Nearly one in 10 children aged eight to 14 have watched online pornography, according to the UK’s communications watchdog, as most adult content providers gear up to adopt stronger age checks ahead of a 25 July deadline.
Ofcom published research showing that 8% of children aged eight to 14 in the UK had visited an online pornography site or app over a month-long period. Boys aged 13 to 14 were the most likely viewers, with two out of 10 visiting adult sites.
Continue reading...Ofcom looks into whether 4chan and file-sharing services failed to put measures to protect users from illegal content
Britain’s media regulator, Ofcom, on Tuesday launched nine investigations into the internet message board 4chan as well as several file-sharing services over possible breaches of online safety laws.
Britain’s Online Safety Act, passed in 2023, sets tougher standards for platforms to tackle criminal activity, with an emphasis on child protection and illegal content.
Continue reading...Communications regulator has brought in more than 40 new rules for tech firms designed to keep under-18s safe
Ofcom announces new rules for tech firms to keep children safe online
The UK communications watchdog has set out more than 40 measures to keep children safe online under a landmark piece of legislation.
The Online Safety Act has a strong focus on protecting under-18s from harmful content and the codes of practice published by Ofcom on Thursday are a significant moment for regulation of the internet.
Continue reading...Producer says ‘courage has gone out of broadcasting’ and audiences want to see grittier issues
The creator of some of Britain’s best-loved soaps has said the “courage has gone out of broadcasting” and suggested that television bosses should not be afraid to flout Ofcom rules.
Phil Redmond – the brains behind Hollyoaks, Grange Hill and Brookside – said there was “too much risk aversion” in television, with producers afraid to upset regulators even if it meant pleasing audiences.
Continue reading...Discussion platform takes fifth place in rankings and is the fastest growing large social media platform in the UK
Reddit, the American online discussion platform, has overtaken X to become the fifth most popular social media platform in the UK, according to the communications watchdog.
Ofcom said Reddit, where users post on discussion threads within topic-based communities, was visited by 22.9 million UK adults in May this year, compared with 22.1 million on X.
Continue reading...GB News to challenge decision and watchdog will not enforce sanction until proceedings are concluded
Ofcom has fined the rightwing broadcaster GB News £100,000 for “breaking due impartiality rules” after an interview with the former prime minister Rishi Sunak earlier this year.
The media regulator said it chose to impose a fine over the programme titled People’s Forum: The Prime Minister because it considered the breach serious, and because of GB News’s track record of breaking impartiality rules.
Continue reading...Watchdog issues warning over misinformation after trouble that flared following killing of three girls on Merseyside
Social media algorithms must be adjusted to prevent misinformation from spreading, the chief executive of Ofcom has warned, responding to the rioting that broke out after the killing of three girls in Southport this summer.
Misinformation about the Southport killings proliferated despite tech firms and social media platforms’ “uneven” attempts to stop it, wrote the Ofcom chief executive, Melanie Dawes, in a letter to the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, Peter Kyle.
Continue reading...Media regulator describes change as a ‘generational shift in the balance of news media’
Online platforms have overtaken TV channels as the most popular sources for news in the UK, according to figures described as a “generational shift” in viewing habits.
More than seven out of 10 UK adults (71%) consume online news, said the UK’s communications regulator, slightly ahead of TV, which is used by 70% of adults. Ofcom described the survey result, the first time websites and apps have moved in front of TV, as marking a “generational shift in the balance of news media”.
Continue reading...Complaints followed Balls’ interview with his wife, Yvette Cooper, and Labour MP Zarah Sultana on Monday
The media regulator Ofcom has received more than 8,000 complaints after an episode of Good Morning Britain in which the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, was interviewed by her husband, Ed Balls.
Balls, a former Labour cabinet minister and a regular presenter on the ITV breakfast programme, questioned his wife’s response to far-right riots during Monday’s edition of the programme.
Continue reading...Digital campaigning gets round media blackout rule restricting broadcasters’ coverage while polls are open
The UK’s political parties are on track to spend more than a million pounds on online adverts on Thursday, circumventing a media blackout rule that forces television and radio stations to stop their election coverage when polls open.
British parties have traditionally ceased top-level campaign activity when voting began as they had no way to get out their message out. This is because of a longstanding broadcasting rule, enforced by the media regulator Ofcom, that states: “Discussion and analysis of election and referendum issues must finish when the poll opens.”
Continue reading...Labour leader says he would refuse to participate in negotiations for another independence referendum if he is elected PM
Speaking of Nigel Farage: the Reform UK leader has praised the misogynist influencer Andrew Tate for being an “important voice” for the emasculated and giving boys “perhaps a bit of confidence at school” in online interviews that appear to be aimed at young men over the past year.
The Guardian’s Rowena Mason and Ben Quinn report:
Continue reading...IDS says a change in ownership may lead to ‘material uncertainty’ over the company’s future
Royal Mail’s owner has warned that a potential £3.5bn bid by the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský could create risk around the company’s finances.
The warning came as the industry regulator Ofcom announced that it had opened an investigation into the parent group, International Distributions Services (IDS), for failing to meet its annual delivery targets for the second year in a row. Last year, Ofcom fined the company £5.6m for failing to meet its first-class and second-class delivery targets in 2022-23.
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