Rishi Sunak is bringing back an amended form of the Online Safety Bill later this month, with the widely-criticised “legal but harmful” provision firmly dead in the water. At least for adults…

According to the Sun, Rishi has ordered Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan to work on a revised Bill ready to present to the Commons before Christmas. The new Bill – which comes after Nadine’s previous iteration was repeatedly delayed – will completely scrap Clause 14, which mandated tech companies to decide what was or wasn’t harmful on their platforms, and censor accordingly. A big-state nightmare of a law that would have quickly trampled all over freedom of speech…

The move by Rishi’s government marks one of the few Liz policies they’re not throwing in the bin. The push to protect free speech for adults and abolish ‘legal but harmful’ was one of Truss’s most attractive summer policy offerings, and with Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan staying in post between the two governments progress mercifully hasn’t been impeded by the political turmoil.

Instead, the Online Safety Bill 2.0 will focus on protecting children online, although how that works in practice when it comes to data and privacy is still a sketchy area. It will also “clarify” what is “a news publisher” to protect journalists. Thanks Rishi. Now, while you’re at it, don’t forget the EU cookie law…