New data shows that internet and communications regulator Ofcom has almost tripled the amount it spends on monitoring public use of Virtual Private Networks. Vital tools for circumventing the excesses of the draconian Online Safety Act…
A Freedom of Information response reveals Ofcom has spent almost £500,000 on monitoring how many people use VPNs since 2022. Spending has more than doubled in the lead up to and implementation of the OSA:
Such data would be vital to any government attempting to justify a crackdown on the software, which digital campaigners the Open Rights Group say are “an important cybersecurity tool for businesses, politicians, journalists and members of the public.” Government guidance has long recommended using them…
In 2022 Labour supported an amendment to the Online Safety Act which would “require the Secretary of State to publish, within six months of the Bill’s passage, a report on the effect of VPN use on Ofcom’s ability to enforce the requirements under clause 112. If VPNs cause significant issues, the Government must identify those issues and find solutions, rather than avoiding difficult problems.” A crackdown…
Ofcom says of its monitoring effort: “The work was undertaken to analyse the impact of the introduction of age assurance online. This is foundational work to assessing compliance, the efficacy of age assurance and to understanding the impacts on users’ safety online.” I.e. it wants to make sure VPN use doesn’t get too high – more regulation to follow…
The internet sheriffs at Ofcom have admitted the government’s Online Safety Act (OSA) dumps “new regulatory costs” on British companies, forcing them to wade through miles of red tape just to stay online. In a 3,100-word letter to Starmer and Reeves, Ofcom Chief Melanie Dawes attempts to explain how her broadcasting quango is “contributing to economic growth“. Yes, really. There is a whole sub-heading dedicated to the Online Safety Act…
“The OSA inevitably places new regulatory costs on companies because we are asking them to carry out assessments and introduce new systems and processes that they have not previously had to prioritise. The largest and/or riskiest services rightly face the heaviest burdens. Nevertheless, we are committed to making online safety regulation as easy as possible to understand and comply with, particularly for small UK-based companies who want to get it right. In January 2025, we launched the beta version of our dedicated Digital Support Service (DSS) to help businesses understand their regulatory requirements under the OSA…”
Dawes goes on to say the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will also “impose new regulatory burdens on businesses“. Don’t worry, the good news is this will somehow ultimately contribute to economic growth. It also gives Ofcom “enhanced powers“. In the good old days, a nimble state with a low tax burden and high productivity was the way to economic growth. Now we give Ofcom magical new powers and hope for the best…
Read the full letter here if you really want to. It’s not really a page-turner…
Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall addressed calls for the government to stop posting on X (mainly by Labour MPs) while discussing potentially banning the platform in the Commons. Hilariously she explained that the reason they haven’t done that yet is because many people get their news from the site. She said:
“Understandable calls for the government to end its participation on X. I really do understand why many colleagues have come to this conclusion when X seems so unwilling to clean up its act. The government will of course keep our participation on X under review. But our job is to protect women and girls from illegal and harmful content wherever it is found. And I think it’s also worth bearing in mind with 19 million people on X in this country and more than a quarter of them saying that it they use it as their primary source of news that our views and often simply the facts need to be heard wherever possible.”
And they want to ban it…
As Ofcom launches its investigation into Musk’s X, threatening a full-on ban, its top brass are raking in the cash. Their latest accounts quietly released over the weekend show CEO Melanie Dawes pocketed a cool £385,000 in 2025 – an inflation-busting 8% increase on 2024. That’s more than double what the Prime Minister earns….
Dawes and Ofcom Group Directors took home an eye-watering combined £2.54 million in 2025, compared to £1.9 million in 2024 – a 31% increase. Among the winners is the new Online Safety Act Group Director Oliver Griffiths, appointed at the end of 2024, who earned £272,950. Nice work if you can get it…
Ofcom has announced the launch of his investigation into X. Including a threat to shut it down in the UK…
The media regulator says:
“Ofcom has today opened an investigation into XIUC’s compliance with its duties under the Act. The investigation follows widespread reports that a Grok model on X is/was being used to generate and share content that may amount to intimate image abuse, CSAM and pornography that is accessible to children.
Ofcom’s investigation will seek to establish whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that XIUC has failed, or is failing, to comply with its legal obligations as set out above.
Ofcom’s Online Safety Enforcement Guidance sets out how Ofcom will normally approach enforcement under the Act. This includes our approach to information gathering and analysis and the procedural steps we must take to fairly determine the outcome of the investigation.
Where we identify compliance failures, we can impose fines of up to £18m or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue (whichever is greater). In the most serious cases of ongoing non-compliance, and where appropriate given the risks of harm to individuals in the UK, we can make an application to a court for ‘business disruption measures’, through which a court could impose an order, on an interim or full basis, requiring payment providers or advertisers to withdraw their services from a platform, or requiring internet service providers to block access to a site in the UK. The court may only impose such orders where appropriate and proportionate to prevent significant harm to individuals in the UK.”
DSIT secretary Liz Kendall will make a statement on X in the Commons later today. Labour has been leaning hard on their ‘all options on the table’ line since last week…
Whitehall watchers are raising eyebrows at the “independent” panel picking Ofcom’s next Chairman. Panel chair Emran Mian, now DSIT Permanent Secretary, was previously Director General at the then-Department for Communities and Local Government (now MHCLG). At the time he was working cheek-by-jowl with Ofcom boss Melanie Dawes, who was running the department as Permanent Secretary. Familiar faces…
Fiona Cannon – another panel member – worked with Dawes’ husband Benedict Brogan at Lloyds Banking Group. She even thanked him in her book ‘The Agility Mindset’ for his “observations and stories.” Meanwhile, Dr Alison Walker-Fraser, a veteran of government appointment panels, previously sat on the panel that waved through Ofcom’s former Principal Economist Stephen Gibson onto the Regulatory Policy Committee. That’s the same body that scrutinises policies in areas Ofcom regulates. Panel looking more like a reunion of friends than a body determined to shake up a failing regulator…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”