Ofcom is reportedly hiring staff from tech giants to enforce the Online Safety Act
The government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom has poached staff from tech giants like senior staff from firms like Google, Meta and Microsoft following the onset of the Online Safety Bill, which came into law last October.
Melanie Dawes, chief executive of Ofcom, told the Financial Times: "The expectations are very high, but it’s as quick as I’ve ever seen a regulator act. Nothing is ever fast enough."
The orgnisation currently has 350 employees but it is thought that with this move they are hoping to increase their payroll with a further 100 members of staff.
A former non-executive board member said: "There is a reputational risk for Ofcom since there is a clear danger that public expectations will be raised beyond the point that they can reasonably be satisfied. Given the scale of the task, that must be a distinct possibility."
Prior to the act coming into play in 2023, politician Michelle Donelan - who serves as the UK's Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology - denied the suggestion that the UK government is anti-encryption.
Michelle told the BBC at the time: "I, like you, want my privacy because I don't want people reading my private messages. They'd be very bored but I don't want them to do it.
"However we do know that on some of these platforms, they are hotbeds sometimes for child abuse and sexual exploitation. And we have to be able access that information should that problem occur."
