The UK Government’s ambitious plans to ‘make the UK the safest place in the world to go online, and the best place to grow and start a digital business’ have been a long time in the making. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Category: Media Regulation (Page 1 of 61)
The year 2021 will see the introduction of new regulatory institutions and regimes for digital platforms. In the UK, the Digital Markets Unit (DMU) was announced in late 2020. Meanwhile on the continent, a similar proposal is in the legislative pipeline in Germany with the amendment to the General Competition Act (GWB) and the EU Commission has laid out its own plans for tackling platform dominance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Continue reading
On 23 March 2020, UK communications regulator Ofcom issued guidance on content standards during the pandemic. Building on the generally applicable Broadcast Content Code, the Ofcom guidance highlighted the importance of sections 2 and 5. Section 2 deals with harm and offence; section 5 with impartiality and accuracy. Continue reading
In 2018 Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey acknowledged that employees at his company have a “left-leaning bias” – but insisted that it does not affect how Twitter makes decisions on content on its platform. Continue reading
The fundamental issues with the government’s White Paper proposals have been exhaustively discussed on previous occasions. Reminiscent of a sheriff in the Wild West, to which the internet is so often likened, Ofcom would enlist deputies – social media platforms and other intermediaries acting under a legal duty of care – to police the unruly online population. Unlike its Wild West equivalent, however, Ofcom would get to define its territory and write the rules, as well as enforce them. Continue reading
The government has now published the Final Response to its Consultation on the April 2019 Online Harms White Paper. Continue reading
On 15 December 2020, the Government published its full response to the Online Harms White Paper, confirming that the Online Harms Bill will establish a new statutory duty of care which is intended to make online companies take responsibility for the safety of their users. Continue reading
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) this week proposed a new regulatory framework for digital competition which offers a tantalising insight into current UK thinking on tech regulation. Does the prospect of a new Digital Markets Unit with tough new rules for the biggest companies mean that tech giants are finally going to be obliged to serve our interests rather than the other way around? Continue reading
In six years, IPSO, the complaints body of the corporate press, has received approaching 20,000 complaints about articles that people considered discriminatory – and of those it has upheld only one. Editors have now reviewed this state of affairs and have concluded that it suits them fine. Continue reading
A Daily Mail article (since edited), “What they DON’T tell you about COVID“, published 20 November 2020, claimed that official projections of Covid deaths and infection rates have been significantly overstated when compared to actual data – suggesting that lockdown measures were an unnecessary infringement on personal freedoms. Continue reading
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