Internal communications now made public by the US House Judiciary Committee shed light on a pattern of escalating pressure by the UK’s “communications regulator,” Ofcom, aimed at pushing US-based tech platforms like Rumble and Reddit into adopting strict speech standards, even in apparent disregard for national boundaries and free speech protections.
The emails expose how Ofcom has been leaning on Rumble to align itself with the UK’s Online Safety Act, a censorship law that vastly expands the state’s oversight of online content under the guise of child protection and harm prevention.
Rumble, which has consistently maintained that it is not within the scope of the legislation, told the regulator that the UK is not a “target market” and that the platform does not have a substantial user base in Britain.
Despite this, Ofcom responded with veiled warnings. In one exchange, the agency stated that it would be “monitoring Rumble’s position carefully” and that it may follow up if Rumble’s stance is contradicted by future activity or incidents involving UK users. The implication was clear: remaining outside the regulatory net may not be tolerated for long.
Ofcom also stated it would “strongly encourage Rumble to take the steps required by the Act to protect UK users of internet services from content that is illegal in the UK or potentially harmful to UK children.”
Yet Rumble operates from within the United States, where citizens actually have free speech rights under the First Amendment, raising serious concerns about the extraterritorial application of UK law to platforms governed by different legal frameworks.
Further emails show that Ofcom believes “a supervisory relationship” between the agency and online services is “the most effective way to review and assess compliance,” again suggesting that companies should voluntarily submit to oversight, or risk the alternative: legal coercion. “We retain the right to legally request information,” the regulator warned.
Reddit also appears to be in the crosshairs. In a separate line of correspondence, Ofcom indicated that it expects a “supervision plan” to be in place for the platform, with particular emphasis on how Reddit handles so-called “hate” content, a term that remains dangerously elastic and open to political manipulation.
This shows how regulators are leveraging ambiguous language and compliance pressure to steer speech policies on platforms that are not even based in the UK.
Ofcom’s behavior shows a bureaucratic intent to expand its influence far beyond Britain’s borders, effectively demanding that foreign platforms enforce UK legal standards on content that may not be illegal elsewhere.
