Category: online harms
Google tightens UK policy on financial ads after watchdog pressure over scams
The UK’s more expansive, post-Brexit role in digital regulation continues to be felt today via a policy change by Google which has announced that it will, in the near future, only run ads for financial products and services when the advertiser in question has been verified by the financial watchdog,…
Read More
UK publishes draft Online Safety Bill
The UK government has published its long-trailed (child) ‘safety-focused’ plan to regulate online content and speech. The Online Safety Bill has been in the works for years — during which time a prior plan to require age verification for accessing online porn in the UK, also with the goal of…
Read More
UK’s Digital Markets Unit starts work on pro-competition reforms
A new UK public body that will be tasked with helping regulate the most powerful companies in the digital sector to ensure competition thrives online and consumers of digital services have more choice and control over their data has launched today. The Digital Markets Unit (DMU), which was announced in…
Read More
UK names its pick for social media ‘harms’ watchdog
The UK government has taken the next step in its grand policymaking challenge to tame the worst excesses of social media by regulating a broad range of online harms — naming the existing communications watchdog, Ofcom, as its preferred pick for enforcing rules around ‘harmful speech’ on platforms such as…
Read More
UK watchdog sets out “age appropriate” design code for online services to keep kids’ privacy safe
The UK’s data protection watchdog has today published a set of design standards for Internet services which are intended to help protect the privacy of children online. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has been working on the Age Appropriate Design Code since the 2018 update of domestic data protection law…
Read More