In a Westminster Hall debate this week, the UK’s Minister for Digital Government and Data, Ian Murray, responded to mounting pressure from lawmakers on the role of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in bypassing the Online Safety Act’s enforcement regime. Murray, speaking for the government, made clear that the review of the Act will consider VPNs…
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Britain’s online safety regulator has taken a new and far more aggressive step in its campaign to impose UK internet rules on foreign platforms. Newly released correspondence shows Ofcom informing 4chan Community Support LLC that it is expanding its investigation into the American message board to include alleged violations of the United Kingdom’s “Protection of…
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SUMMARY United Kingdom lawmakers continue to debate banning virtual private networks (VPNs) as part of a measure to crack down on internet freedom following the enactment of the Online Safety Act VPNs have been used to circumvent proof-of-age and other identity requirements for online services as part of the Online Safety Act VPN usage has…
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Ofcom, the UK’s media and online communications regulator charged with enforcing the country’s draconian Online Safety Act (OSA) has claimed that the First Amendment does not protect American companies from its fines. The UK regulator is attempting to impose a 20,000 GBP fine on 4chan, an American-based discussion forum known for both political incorrectness and…
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A lawyer representing Google admitted to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) that President Joe Biden and his officials pressured the search giant to censor disfavored voices on YouTube. Google said in the letter that the Biden administration’s pressure was “unacceptable and wrong” The letter reveals that the Biden administration pressured YouTube to censor…
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SUMMARY The United Kingdom’s Online Safety act went into effect on July 25th. X has warned that the OSA, which allows the UK to fine American companies at 10 percent of their annual global revenue, threatens free speech worldwide. The OSA’s provisions allow the UK government to force a company’s business partners, including advertisers and…
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The UK’s Online Safety Act mandates that platforms like X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Meta, and others proactively identify and restrict access to content deemed “harmful.” This includes not just illegal material but vaguely defined “legal but harmful” categories such as misinformation, hate speech, or anything that might cause “psychological harm.” Platforms face fines up to…
Read articleSUMMARY A new British censorship law threatens American liberties. The Online Safety Act went into force in the UK on July 25th. The Act requires tech companies to clamp down on hate speech, dis- and misinformation, and “racially or religiously aggravated” offenses. Under its provisions, American employees of non-compliant tech companies could face criminal charges…
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A growing theme across the western world has been the weaponization of the judiciary to crush populist uprisings. Recent cases include the five-year election ban against Marine Le Pen in France, and the overturning of the first-round victory of a Romanian presidential candidate on grounds of “Russian disinformation.” Speaking at the Cambridge Disinformation Summit in…
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Microsoft aims to smoothly transition from one presidential administration to the next. The company recently secured a major win in DC, receiving the official blessing of the President in a $500 billion AI investment partnership between SoftBank, Oracle, and Microsoft’s OpenAI. But as official policy turns against online censorship, the tech giant may have to…
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