UK media regulator investigates possible online safety breaches at 4chan
Britain's Online Safety Act, passed in 2023, sets tougher standards for platforms to tackle criminal activity, with an emphasis on child protection and illegal content.
The regulator said it had received complaints about potential illegal content on 4chan and, separately, possible sharing of child sexual abuse material on seven file-sharing services.
Ofcom is investigating whether 4chan and the file-sharing services failed to put appropriate safety measures to protect users from illegal content and to respond to a statutory information request. It also wants to assess whether they kept proper risk assessment records. 4chan could not be reached for comment.
The regulator can require platforms to take specific measures to ensure compliance with the rules, or fine them up to £18m ($24.28m) or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.
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Ofcom's announcement also said it was investigating whether First Time Videos, which provides pornographic services, has effective enough age assurance in place to protect children.
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BBC News
13 minutes ago
- BBC News
Children at risk of being recruited by hostile states, police warn
Counter-terror police have warned the activity of hostile states on British soil is posing a growing threat and urged families to watch for signs their children are being along with petty criminals and disillusioned people, may be more vulnerable to recruitment by Russia, Iran and China, they states are increasingly using proxies to carry out acts of sabotage and targeted violence in the UK, counter-terror police said, adding that investigating such activity now accounts for about 20% of their and teachers should "be inquisitive" and "seek help" if they think a child is at risk, police advised. Since the Salisbury poisonings in 2018 – which targeted Russian double agent Sergei Skripal – there has been a five-fold increase in police work to tackle hostile activity, commanders said."The breadth, complexity and volume of these operations has continued to grow at a rate that I'm not sure that us, or our partners internationally, or any intelligence community predicted," Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter-Terrorism Command, told reporters."We are increasingly seeing these three states, but not just these three states, undertaking threat to life operations in the United Kingdom."The youngest person arrested or investigated on suspicion of involvement is aged in their "mid-teens", he Evans, Counter Terrorism Policing's senior national co-ordinator, expressed concern other children may be encouraged online to carry out activities to earn money, without realising the implications of their actions."We really encourage people, parents, teachers, professionals just to be inquisitive," she said."If they're concerned, ask those questions, and if they think there's something they need to be concerned about, seek help and act, because we want to make sure that we're protecting people from inadvertently being drawn into this sort of activity."The Metropolitan Police is now putting additional resources into tackling hostile state activity, with training for officers in "foreign interference" and hundreds taking part in recent exercises in how to respond."We're working with local force chiefs up and down the country to raise awareness and ensure that there really is an increased understanding about this threat," Ms Evans this month, two low-level criminals were among five people convicted of involvement in an arson attack on a warehouse storing communications equipment for said the attack had been ordered by Russia's Wagner group, and that one of the ringleaders, 21-year-old Dylan Earl, had been plotting to kidnap its owner, a Russian dissident. The Met said it was also dealing with a "high volume" of threats from Iran, focused on those considered to be opponents of the Islamic Republic."We know that they are continuing to try and sow violence on the streets of the United Kingdom, they too are to some extent relying on criminal proxies to do that," Mr Murphy use of criminal proxies offers "arms-length deniability," according to Ms Evans, who blames the rising threat on the "continued erosion of the rule-based international order".The warnings came in the first specific briefing for journalists from counter-terrorism police on the threat of hostile state activity."Foreign regimes are more willing than ever to undertake aggressive actions overseas," Ms Evans said.
Telegraph
15 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Finally, the ineptitude I saw first-hand has been exposed
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I was subject to the injunction. I created and ran an Afghan task force to work rehome eligible Afghans under Rishi Sunak, the then prime minister. The Home Office, MoD, Department for Levelling Up and the Foreign Office just could not seem to work together; the prime minister asked me to try and unblock it from my neutral position in the Cabinet Office. I had also made no secret of my desire to relocate Afghan special forces personnel from that country to this, in the wake of August 2021. I stand by that wholeheartedly. These brave souls fought alongside us cheek by jowl; they carried stretchers of dead UK soldiers; they fought hard and battled bravely. But there were only ever about 1,000-1,200 badged members of CF 333 and CF444. I couldn't understand where all these Afghans were coming from. Everyone seemed to know about it I had no idea why the injunction existed in the first place; the list had appeared on Facebook and everyone, including the media, seemed to know about it. Officials seemed to get a bit of a kick out of something being 'Top Secret'. I thought it was weird, and it wasn't a secret. It was a direct result of the chaos that engulfed the MoD at the end of the Afghanistan war. Those on the ground during Op Pitting saw awful things, were incredibly brave and saved thousands of lives. I also saw how hard Ben Wallace worked to do the right thing. But since then it has been awful. The MoD has tried at every turn to cut off those from Afghan special forces units from coming to the UK, for reasons I cannot fathom. They also lied to themselves about doing it. The UK's director of Special Forces told me personally that he was offended and angry by my suggestion that his organisation was blocking the Triples. Certain MoD ministers had a criminal lack of professional curiosity as to why the Triples were being rejected when there were so many subject matter experts who said they clearly should be eligible. 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Telegraph
16 minutes ago
- Telegraph
This was too little, too late from the ‘iron' Chancellor
There will be a round of deregulation. Lending rules will be relaxed. And new listings will be accelerated. Rachel Reeves did everything she could in her Mansion House speech this evening to win back the City. From any other Chancellor it might have been greeted with loud applause. From this one, however, it will be dead on arrival. The relationship with finance is irretrievably broken – and is too late to win it back now. The bankers and brokers listening to Reeves this evening will like much of what she had to say. The relaxation of lending rules will be welcomed, even if it is questionable whether the British housing market needs yet more debt instead of more supply. Easing some red tape is always helpful, and something needs to be done to encourage more new listings. In reality, however, Labour's relationship with business is now broken beyond repair. When Reeves took office there was plenty of goodwill. Business was ready for a change of 14 years of a Conservative government that seemed more and more chaotic with every year that passed. She even had one or two ideas that sounded good, even if they were thin on detail. By now, however, the City feels completely betrayed. The assault on non-doms has driven wealthy clients out of the country, and many successful entrepreneurs as well, with nothing to replace them. The steep rise in employers' National Insurance has drained money out of companies, and hit profits and dividends. Her changes to inheritance tax have hammered not just farmers but every privately owned business, and many of those are still crucial to the economy. The extra employment rights might please the unions but they could be ruinous for the City. The list goes on and on. Business was told that Reeves was a pro-growth, pro-enterprise Chancellor. Instead she has led an assault on the private sector with no parallel in recent British history. It looks as if it will only get worse over the next year. We all know that there will be another huge round of tax rises in the autumn, and business may well bear the brunt of that. It could be higher business rates, a windfall tax on the banks or utilities, or even a 'temporary' surcharge on corporation tax, similar to the levy imposed in France earlier this year. Likewise, the plutocrats of the Square Mile are likely to be squeezed for extra tax revenue. We may well see a return of the 50 per cent top rate of tax. Or, even worse, a wealth tax, catastrophic for the City where £10 million is regarded as a respectable annual bonus, and not an obscene fortune to be taxed away. Sure, a few reforms are worth having. And it is good that Reeves recognises how crucial the City and financial services are to the British economy, even if many of the Left-wingers on her backbenchers won't agree with her. Finance has always been one of the key drivers of growth, as well as generating huge tax revenues. But the blunt truth is this. Reeves has lost the trust of the City. And no matter how hard she tries, it's surely gone forever.
