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Ofcom

Ofcom is the UK's communications regulator, overseeing broadcasting, telecoms, and online safety enforcement under the Online Safety Act.

Known aliases

  • Office of Communications

Current stories

leadershipConfirmed3 publishers

Nandy says she is minded to intervene in Sky's £1.6bn ITV deal

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy says she is minded to intervene in Sky's £1.6bn takeover of ITV's media and entertainment arm. ITV and Sky have until 20 October to respond with reassurances on on-demand programming and news.

Perspective Coverage

3 publishers
Builder
Builder 5%
Operator
Operator 58%
Investor
Investor 37%

Reality

Evidence72
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+8
Incentives55
Confidence72
investConfirmed3 publishers

Ofcom wants proof that X removes the illegal hate and terror posts it now reviews on time

Ofcom says X met its review-time targets but has not convinced it that illegal hate and terror posts come down. The Grok probe is moving toward a decision under rules that allow fines up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue.

Perspective Coverage

3 publishers
Builder
Builder 19%
Operator
Operator 38%
Investor
Investor 43%

Reality

Evidence55
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap0
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence70
leadershipOne report1 publisher

Royal Mail's union says DM26 has lifted weekly leavers from 330 to 400

Communication Workers Union says Royal Mail now loses about 400 staff a week, up from about 330 before DM26. Royal Mail says delivery reaches 95% of addresses a day. The leaver figures are the union's alone, and the Christmas risk is still a forecast.

Publishers:bbc.co.uk

Reality

Evidence40
Adoption85
Hype gap
Not scored
Incentives70
Confidence60
leadershipConfirmed2 publishers

Meta takes Ofcom to the High Court over group-wide revenue in Online Safety Act fines

Meta is challenging Ofcom in the High Court over the revenue definition that sets Online Safety Act fines at up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue. Meta says the Act gives Ofcom no power to count unregulated revenue when it names several entities, City AM reported.

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap
Not scored
Incentives70
Confidence72
leadershipOne report1 publisher

Robocall complaints at a five-year high draw an ICO investigation into suspected job scams

UK data regulator the ICO is investigating automated 'add me on WhatsApp' calls after logging more than 3,600 complaints in September, a five-year high. Because some of the recorded messages offer part-time work, job seekers look like the intended targets.

Publishers:bbc.co.uk

Reality

Evidence50
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+15
Incentives40
Confidence55
leadershipConfirmed4 publishers

Royal Mail confines up to 2,500 job cuts to head office and support staff

Royal Mail plans to cut up to 2,500 head office and support roles by the end of 2027, with no reductions in frontline delivery and processing jobs. At under 2% of its 131,000 staff, the plan trims the centre of the business and leaves the network that carries the post intact.

Perspective Coverage

5 publishers
Builder
Builder 5%
Operator
Operator 65%
Investor
Investor 30%

Reality

Evidence72
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+10
Incentives60
Confidence75
productConfirmed11 publishers

Ofcom investigates whether Meta risk-assessed Instagram's disappearing Instants before launch

Ofcom is investigating whether Meta carried out suitable illegal-content and children's risk assessments before launching Instagram Instants in May. For product teams shipping to UK users, the case turns on when the risk work has to be finished and how much of it counts.

Publishers:bbc.co.uk bbc.com businesstoday.in channelnewsasia.com cityam.com lbc.co.uk livemint.com nation.cymru petapixel.com qz.com techrepublic.com theguardian.com thenextweb.com

Perspective Coverage

13 publishers
Builder
Builder 20%
Operator
Operator 57%
Investor
Investor 23%

Reality

Evidence72
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+15
Incentives60
Confidence70
leadershipOne report1 publisher

Pornhub's return to Australia makes Apple the gatekeeper for adult age checks

Aylo is restoring Pornhub in Australia for users who pass Apple's iOS age checks, having blocked the country in March over rules backed by $49.5m fines. Australia's codes still place the duty to verify on the website, even though Apple now runs the check.

Publishers:theguardian.com

Reality

Evidence55
Adoption30
Hype gap+30
Incentives75
Confidence50
leadershipConfirmed5 publishers

Telecare safety joins competition in the review of BT's £400m TalkTalk rescue

Lisa Nandy has added vulnerable telecare users to the review of BT's £400m debt-free purchase of TalkTalk out of administration. Once the competition watchdog reports, she can weigh alarm safety and critical networks against BT's bigger market share.

Perspective Coverage

5 publishers
Builder
Builder 11%
Operator
Operator 49%
Investor
Investor 40%

Reality

Evidence72
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+15
Incentives75
Confidence70
investConfirmed2 publishers

London court weighs how much moderation data Ofcom can force from Meta, TikTok and X

Meta, TikTok and X are fighting Ofcom in a London court over moderation data demands under a law that allows fines of up to 10% of global turnover. The ruling sets how much the platforms must count and hand over, a week before Meta separately contests how Ofcom calculates fees and penalties.

Perspective Coverage

5 publishers
Builder
Builder 23%
Operator
Operator 56%
Investor
Investor 21%

Reality

Evidence62
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap0
Incentives42
Confidence68
leadershipOne report1 publisher

Nandy warns tech firms that Britain's under-16 social media ban is only a staging post

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy says the UK's under-16 social media ban, due in March, is only a staging post toward a more interventionist state. Platforms preparing for that deadline are building for a first tranche, with more promised by the minister now in charge.

Publishers:theguardian.com

Reality

Evidence50
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+35
Incentives60
Confidence45
productConfirmed3 publishers

The UK will legislate the nudity block Apple and Google were asked to volunteer

Lisa Nandy told MPs that the two firms' proposals do not meet the scale of the crisis. The draft law would also reach providers of apps used by children, turning on-device image classification into a compliance job for them too.

Perspective Coverage

3 publishers
Builder
Builder 32%
Operator
Operator 55%
Investor
Investor 13%

Reality

Evidence72
Adoption30
Hype gap+25
Incentives60
Confidence65
securityConfirmed4 publishers

Ofcom asks Aylo what testing it did before it trusted Apple's under-18 signal

Pornhub's parent company started reading Apple's device-level under-18 signal in May. Ofcom's investigation is about the testing Aylo did before it switched that over. The liability stays with Aylo.

Perspective Coverage

4 publishers
Builder
Builder 28%
Operator
Operator 46%
Investor
Investor 26%

Reality

Evidence76
Adoption55
Hype gap+12
Incentives78
Confidence74
leadershipOne report1 publisher

Meta appeals the Ofcom category that would add fraud-advertising duties to WhatsApp and Instagram

Meta's second action against Ofcom this year disputes the categorisation that attaches extra transparency, user-control and fraud-advertising duties to two of its services. Ofcom's online safety director told peers the regulator is operating in a highly litigious environment.

Publishers:theguardian.com

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption40
Hype gap+10
Incentives75
Confidence58
investOne report1 publisher

Meta challenges the worldwide-revenue base Ofcom uses to set both fees and fines

The judicial review turns on qualifying worldwide revenue, the figure behind Ofcom's annual fee and a fine cap of 10 percent of global turnover. The substantive hearing is set for October 2026, after the first invoices are expected.

Reality

Evidence30
Adoption35
Hype gap+25
Incentives68
Confidence38
productOne report1 publisher

VodafoneThree asks planners for two more metres on every rooftop 5G site

Two UK operators told Connected Britain that planning height limits have held back 5G, with Ookla putting UK 5G availability at 45.2 percent of the population against Denmark's 83.9 percent. Neither operator sized the effect.

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption48
Hype gap+30
Incentives80
Confidence50
leadershipOne report1 publisher

Whitehall treats Meta's $18bn settlement as the floor for teen safety defaults

The two-hour cap and overnight notification blocks were written to end a US trial, and the UK's work and pensions secretary now expects them in Britain as a matter of course. That is how a settlement becomes a spec.

Publishers:theguardian.com

Reality

Evidence54
Adoption38
Hype gap+27
Incentives71
Confidence49
productOne report1 publisher

Britain's digital infrastructure number tripled by definition, then fell 4 percent

The ONS widened what counts as digital infrastructure to include data centres, hardware and spectrum. The bigger total went backwards in its first year.

Publishers:thenextweb.com

Reality

Evidence61
Adoption68
Hype gap+38
Incentives58
Confidence57
productOne report1 publisher

A minister asked for an algorithm change, and the Online Safety Act has no line for it

After seven deaths on the A66, Luke Pollard told platforms to demote dangerous driving as well as delete it. TikTok answered with a takedown rate that measures something else.

Publishers:bbc.co.uk

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption32
Hype gap+34
Incentives72
Confidence55
productConfirmed3 publishers

Senators want every TikTok test that disabled a safety feature, not just the one that hit 15 million

Blackburn and Blumenthal set a 1 September deadline for 13 questions. The broadest one asks for every US algorithmic experiment where TikTok withheld a protection, and how many minors were caught in it.

Perspective Coverage

3 publishers
Builder
Builder 27%
Operator
Operator 50%
Investor
Investor 23%

Reality

Evidence68
Adoption55
Hype gap+12
Incentives66
Confidence70

Earlier coverage