Guido hears Gill Whitehead, Ofcom’s Group Director of Online Safety, privately defended Fadzai Madzingira in a meeting with colleagues last night. According to Guido’s moles, Whitehead allegedly told co-workers Ofcom should “wrap Madzingira in cotton wool” and “put our arms around” her after she was suspended for sharing vociferously anti-Israel views on social media. Views such as calling the government’s support for Israel a “vile colonial alliance”…

Whitehead herself – an ex-Google executive now “overseeing [Ofcom’s] new duties as the regulator for online safety” – has hardly made her own political positions a great secret. While Ofcom is responsible for broadcast impartiality, Whitehead’s Twitter/X profile paints a clear picture…

Ofcom’s own press release boasts of how the Online Safety Bill “will hand Ofcom a remit and powers to help create a safer life online“. A safer life provided you nod along in agreement with everything they say…

UPDATE: Ofcom say the headline is inaccurate as they have “a duty of care to all colleagues” and Whitehead’s comments at the meeting were relating to being supportive to Fadzai “on a personal level“, rather than in relation to an upcoming investigation.