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Ofcom writes to 4chan: “We are a UK-based regulator, but that does not mean the rules do not apply to sites based abroad” — true, but irrelevant…
Ofcom may declare that their rules apply anywhere, but that doesn’t mean that anywhere is necessarily within Ofcom’s jurisdiction. America might as well be another planet. Ofcom may claim whatever it likes, but it’s what the inhabitants believe that is important. Expect another clickbait million-pound fine announcement, imminently:
age verification censorship Digital colonialism feed ofcom online safety online safety act starship troopers surveillance vpnsFediverse reactions
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EU’s Top Court Just Made It Literally Impossible To Run A User-Generated Content Platform Legally | Techdirt
Oh dear: Under this ruling, it appears that any website that hosts any user-generated content can be strictly liable if any of that content contains “sensitive personal data” about any person. But how the fuck are they supposed to handle that? The basic answer is to pre-scan any user-generated content for anything that might later
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Ofcom: “I can levy vasty £1m fines upon Porn!” Internet: “So can I, so can any regulator; but will they pay when you levy them?”
This will be interesting: Ofcom have imposed a headline-grabbing fine on “AVS Group” for £1 million — plus a second fine of £50,000 — for dereliction under the Online Safety Act. The first fine is politically intentionally dramatic; but it’s the second fine which is far more interesting… Ofcom document number 1 tells us that
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ReclaimTheNet: “ChatControl was meant to be temporary, the promotion of mass scanning of private messages until data proved it worked. The data never came.”
https://reclaimthenet.org/eu-chat-control-law-permanent-privacy-risks-error-rates-lack-evidence It was supposed to be a stopgap measure, a temporary derogation of privacy rights until proper evidence came in. Now, if you’ve been following our previous reporting, you’ll know the Council wants to make it permanent, even though the Commission’s own 2025 evaluation report admits it has no evidence the thing actually works. Via:
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Age Verification: Teaching the world how to evade censorship
The number of Missouri residents searching for VPNs has quadrupled since the introduction of state-wide age verification laws on November 30, 2025. Trends data from the past 30 days indicates a four times increase in traffic for the search term ‘VPN‘ from within the Show-me State. https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/missouris-search-for-vpns-lifts-off-as-the-first-day-of-age-verification-arrives via:
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Australia, and teenage Olympians and other upcoming sports stars are shuttering their Instagrams, likely impacting funding; or handing them over to “parents” to avoid bans
Hopefully handing the accounts over to the parents will not get the parents banned.
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EFF: “After Years of Controversy, the EU’s Chat Control Nears Its Final Hurdle: What to Know”
Good primer on the remaining badness: After a years-long battle, the European Commission’s “Chat Control” plan, which would mandate mass scanning and other encryption-breaking measures, at last codifies agreement on a position within the Council of the EU, representing EU States. The good news is that the most controversial part, the forced requirement to scan encrypted messages, is
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Breaking: OnlineSafetyAct-inspired Federal GRANITE Act “for consideration” to protect US 1st Amendment rights against Ofcom
Sarah Rogers — US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy; in the UK she’d be a DCMS junior minister* — says the GRANITE Act is now “before the House” for consideration: I’ll start with: I hate that I’m having to retweet GBNews for this, but it’s important… …because if the GRANITE Act passes then
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[Indian] Government removes mandatory pre-installation of [spyware] Sanchar Saathi App
What a surprise. Possibly related to the fact that Apple rejected the proposal. Details: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2198110®=3&lang=2
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eSafety Australia has been issuing informal takedown notices to platforms without due process; it turns out Australian courts don’t appreciate that behaviour
Justice: “So they thought it was appropriate regulatory practice […] to issue an informal notice to X and then claim it is a non-reviewable decision?” eSafety: “I’m not going to embrace that characterisation your honour…” Justice: “Yes I can understand why you wouldn’t want to, but that’s nevertheless factually the case isn’t it?” The full
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Australia eSafety: “Parents may lose their Google accounts [and anything linked to them] if they let their kids use them to view stuff”
Maybe it’s time for some Australian parents to set up actual passwords for all of those “Login with Google” accounts they use?
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