The U.K. Keeps Threatening To Censor American Tech Companies
On Monday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R–Ohio) accused the United Kingdom’s Office of Communications (Ofcom) of threatening American companies “with censorship.” Jordan’s accusation centers on communications sent to Rumble and Reddit by Ofcom detailing the level of cooperation expected under the country’s Online Safety Act (OSA).
Enacted in 2023 and enforced by Ofcom, the OSA mandates online platforms to change their algorithms and moderate content deemed harmful for children, including pornography, bullying, and “abusive or hateful content.” Some sites must implement age-verification measures. The law also criminalizes sending “false information intended to cause non-trivial harm.” It requires platforms to protect all users from seeing illegal content, including that which incites violence or is related to illegal immigration or “racially or religiously aggravated public order offences.”
The OSA broadly applies to any tech company with a significant number of U.K. users or if the U.K. is a target market. Noncompliant companies can incur fines of up to $23.8 million(approximately 18 million pounds) or 10 percent of their global revenue, whichever is higher, for each violation. “Senior managers” could also face prison time for violations. In July, the sections regarding age verification and content for children took effect.
Companies have responded with varying degrees of compliance. X has begun restricting content related to Gaza for its U.K. users, and Reddit has implemented age-verification measures to view posts about cigars, according to Politico. Microsoft announced that it had implemented age-verification steps for users in the United Kingdom. Others, such as Gab, a far-right social media site which received a formal “notice for information” from Ofcom in April, have simply ceased operations in the country.
Taking a different approach, Wikimedia Foundation (which owns Wikipedia) filed suit
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