I’ve previously written about this at considerable length, so I will limit myself to quoting Preston Byrne re: domestic rights, and noting that sites which have engaged in UK-directed self-censorship* are now centred in complaints to government that VPNs enable circumvention.
Appeasement makes it worse for us:
[*] The Molly Rose Foundation are literally attempting to block the ability to utter certain words on the global Internet, and they see Ofcom as the tool for this:
https://mollyrosefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MissedChancesLostLives.pdf
Earlier this month, Ofcom signalled that it appeared to be relying on the site voluntarily geo-blocking its site to UK users – in effect, signalling it will not take further enforcement action despite the forum still being readily available via a VPN.
Ofcom’s failure to respond appropriately to a forum that continues to represent an immediate and ongoing threat to life is, to put it bluntly, staggering. Many will legitimately fear that the forum’s decision to voluntarily geo-block itself is a short-term tactic designed to diminish Ofcom’s appetite to seek a permanent remedy through the UK courts.
Ofcom’s approach appears to be playing directly into the hands of this nihilistic forum – and it means that further UK lives remain at risk.
Even if the regulator did take steps that eventually led to the forum’s closure, the current legislative framework means that if and when the forum was no longer available, we cannot have confidence that ‘regulatory whack-a-mole’ will simply enable another replica site to emerge and take its place.
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