Libera Chat receives legal advice that the Online Safety Act does not apply to them
61 points by chamlis
61 points by chamlis
the memo implies that “significance” in this context is interpreted as being relative to the population of the UK, not relative to the user base of the service. We have seen risk assessments that take the other interpretation and consider their UK user base to be “significant” because it makes up a large portion of their overall user base, but the advice we received suggests we should not use this interpretation. The exact fraction of the UK’s online population that must use a given service to be considered “significant” is unknown, but based on our counsel’s observations of Ofcom’s previous regulatory actions, it appears to be much higher than our internal estimates of how large our UK user base is.
This snippet is very interesting - if accurate, it implies that even sites operating entirely within the UK might not be considered "linked to the UK" if they don't serve a significant proportion of the UK's online population? Seems... counterintuitive, though by all accounts this legislation is a mess so I wouldn't rule it out.
Much of the UK OSA's practicalities about what it censors hang on the definition(s) of "significant" but Ofcom have consistently avoided a definition even when directly asked in their own Q&A webinar or by providers. I feel I've wasted my time attempting to talk to Ofcom or read their statements. They ignore specific questions to give vague responses that consistently avoid defining the scope of the OSA. US law recognizes this kind of deliberate vagueness by a regulator as jawboning, to do by intimidation and exhaustion what would be illegal for a regulator to do honestly. I wish the best of luck for Libera in the face of Ofcom's deliberate strategy to make it impossible to be confident in these decisions.
Title editorialised by me (from "The good advice" which didn't seem very descriptive).
I'm glad to see that contracted lawyers believe the OSA won't be enforced to the extreme its vagueness seemingly allows. Of course, the direct legal consequences are only one part of the law's effect.