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VOICE ARCHIVE

Matthew Lesh

@matthewlesh
18 posts
2025-08-04
The Online Safety Act debate was a lonely place for free speech advocates. Anyone who dared to question the law was treated as a child-hating pariah. Yet as key provisions have come into force our warnings have proven eerily accurate. @iealondon Insider today: [image]
2025-08-04 View on X
The Guardian

The UK Online Safety Act's approach to keeping children safe online has become a rallying point for the right in the UK and the US over alleged censorship

Farage accuses government of being ‘so below the belt’ as right wing doubles down on censorship claims  —  The UK's Online Safety Act has been greatly anticipated.

2024-05-09
Ofcom is being celebrated today for a code of practice protecting children from harmful content. But the coverage is missing significant details. The definition of priority harmful content is broad, including material that targets race, religion and gender reassignment. [image]
2024-05-09 View on X
BBC

Ofcom proposes new rules requiring tech companies to change their algorithms to hide “toxic” material from children, have more robust age checks, and more

It focuses on proposals for how internet services … Emma Martins : This draft Code is one of the first steps by Ofcom, UK independent communications regulator, in respect of its ne...

2024-03-26
The EU's early efforts under the DMA should give advocates for the equivalent law in the U.K., the DMCC, reason for concern. The CMA will have even more powers to direct markets with limited accountability.
2024-03-26 View on X
Financial Times

The EU opens formal DMA probes into Apple and Google over letting developers “steer” users from their app stores, and Meta over its “pay or consent” model

Apple fans: “The EU must approve of Apple's plans, otherwise Apple wouldn't have announced them”  —  The EU: “Hang on a minute...” https://www.theverge.com/... Jan Penfrat / @ilumi...

2023-09-06
The government is putting on the record what has been admitted privately — no technology exists that can scan private messages without undermining encryption. But the powers to require scanning will remain in place. Ofcom being handed extraordinary power. https://www.ft.com/...
2023-09-06 View on X
Financial Times

The UK government pulls back from new encryption rules in the Online Safety Bill, averting a clash with Big Tech, as the bill enters its final stages

Ministers will not immediately enforce online safety bill powers to scan apps after WhatsApp threatened shutdown

2023-05-16
The EU's AI Act would require models to pass extensive and expensive licensing. Opensource developers and hosts like GitHub would be liable for unlicensed models. A failure to comply could result in fines of €20 million or 4% worldwide revenue. https://technomancers.ai/...
2023-05-16 View on X
Stratechery

Google's I/O 2023 suggests that AI is a sustaining innovation for Big Tech; the true fight will be between the major players' centralized models and open source

2023-05-04
OpenAI is a new company that literally had zero users just months ago. They're now competing with Google Search. Seems to be a quite well functioning competitive market.
2023-05-04 View on X
Financial Times

The UK CMA launches a “fact-finding” review of the AI market, including LLMs, to assess opportunities, guardrails, and principles to protect competition

CMA chief Sarah Cardell says the regulator will examine technology behind software such as ChatGPT

The CMA is drunk with power. These antics are making the UK inhospitable for tech investment and hurting innovation. https://www.ft.com/...
2023-05-04 View on X
Financial Times

The UK CMA launches a “fact-finding” review of the AI market, including LLMs, to assess opportunities, guardrails, and principles to protect competition

CMA chief Sarah Cardell says the regulator will examine technology behind software such as ChatGPT

2023-01-17
This is being spun as similar to Ireland; but don't believe that hogwash. Ireland's new online safety law threatens criminal sanctions for a failure to comply with a *specific compliance notice* from the regulator. https://www.siliconrepublic.com/ ...
2023-01-17 View on X
Telegraph

The UK amends the Online Safety Bill to make senior managers at tech companies criminally liable for failures to protect minors, following demands by Tory MPs

Social media bosses who fail to protect children from harmful content will face jail now the Government has conceded to rebel MPs

The implications of the provision are extremely obvious. Managers will introduce increasingly censorious systems to avoid the risk of criminal liability. It will discourage innovation and start-ups in the U.K. Nobody will be safer as a result.
2023-01-17 View on X
Telegraph

The UK amends the Online Safety Bill to make senior managers at tech companies criminally liable for failures to protect minors, following demands by Tory MPs

Social media bosses who fail to protect children from harmful content will face jail now the Government has conceded to rebel MPs

By contrast, UK managers will face the threat of criminal liability for failing in their duty to prevent “harm” against children. The definition of harm is “physical or psychological harm”. Imagine if parents could face time for failing to prevent “psychological harm”?
2023-01-17 View on X
Telegraph

The UK amends the Online Safety Bill to make senior managers at tech companies criminally liable for failures to protect minors, following demands by Tory MPs

Social media bosses who fail to protect children from harmful content will face jail now the Government has conceded to rebel MPs

Government has capitulated on anti-free speech amendment — criminal liability is coming for senior managers who fail to keep children “safe”. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ ...
2023-01-17 View on X
Telegraph

The UK amends the Online Safety Bill to make senior managers at tech companies criminally liable for failures to protect minors, following demands by Tory MPs

Social media bosses who fail to protect children from harmful content will face jail now the Government has conceded to rebel MPs

2022-11-03
The ‘legal but harmful’ provision, formally known as ‘content that is harmful to adults,’ required firms to state in their T&Cs how they would respond to priority content. The clear intention of these provisions was to encourage removal of legal speech.
2022-11-03 View on X
The i Paper

Source: the UK plans to remove the Online Safety Bill's controversial “legal but harmful” content rules, leaving them only for material targeted at children

EXCLUSIVEThe Bill is due to be brought back to Parliament later this month after it was delayed over the summer

This is excellent news for free expression — govt to remove ‘legal but harmful’ provisions from Online Safety Bill. BUT this only addresses the tip of the iceberg in respect the Bill. 🧵 Let me explain... https://twitter.com/...
2022-11-03 View on X
The i Paper

Source: the UK plans to remove the Online Safety Bill's controversial “legal but harmful” content rules, leaving them only for material targeted at children

EXCLUSIVEThe Bill is due to be brought back to Parliament later this month after it was delayed over the summer

2022-03-18
Ofcom's powers to require the use of ‘accredited technology’ to identify child exploitation material includes not only public communications but also private channels. That means Ofcom can mandate monitoring of private messaging services like WhatsApp. What a delight. https://twitter.com/...
2022-03-18 View on X
Sky News

The UK's Online Safety Bill, introduced to Parliament in hopes of sensible reform, is an unworkable compromise whose basic elements are shrouded in confusion

Even after years of debate, there remain substantive differences of opinion about the nature and purpose of the bill …

2022-03-17
Nadine Dorries identifies the serious threat to free speech posed by the Online Safety Bill — then confirms ‘legal but harmful’ will remain, with the state outlining ‘priority’ content and threatening 10% revenue fines. Confirms worst fears. https://www.conservativehome.com/ ...
2022-03-17 View on X
The Information

Tech execs may face criminal prosecution or jail time for not abiding by Ofcom's decisions two months after the UK's Online Safety Bill passes and takes effect

Executives from Facebook parent Meta Platforms, TikTok and other big tech companies would face the prospect of jail time under sweeping …

This tweet may be legal but it is harmful misinformation. The Online Safety Bill will require platforms to remove legal but harmful speech. It's a gigantic threat to a free society. https://twitter.com/...
2022-03-17 View on X
The Information

Tech execs may face criminal prosecution or jail time for not abiding by Ofcom's decisions two months after the UK's Online Safety Bill passes and takes effect

Executives from Facebook parent Meta Platforms, TikTok and other big tech companies would face the prospect of jail time under sweeping …

2022-02-16
The Home Office explicitly wants tech companies to proactively monitor and censor legal speech. This is frightening totalitarianism. https://www.ft.com/...
2022-02-16 View on X
Financial Times

Sources: the UK Home Office is seeking changes to the Online Safety Bill to require platforms monitor “legal but harmful” content, worrying the tech industry

Radical powers in online bill would increase liability of global internet groups beyond current global regulation Tweets: @tim , @matthewlesh , @martinsfp , @jimkillock , @webdevla...

2022-01-24
The DCMS committee wants the online safety bill to require social media platforms to remove anything that risks undermining people's reputations or public health or morals. That's an insanely broad definition. What if the comments are true? Contrarian views on Covid measures? https://twitter.com/...
2022-01-24 View on X
TechCrunch

UK's DCMS committee says the Online Safety Bill falls short on protecting free speech, tackling illegal and harmful content in online services, and more

Another UK parliamentary committee has weighed in on the government's controversial plan to regulate Internet content with a broadbrush focus on ‘safety’.