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The UK communications regulator, Ofcom, has recently had to take a number of decisions on broadcasters, including decisions on material advocating terrorism. One such example relates to Ariana International, a general entertainment channel originating from Afghanistan and broadcast by satellite in the United Kingdom. Its licence is held by Ariana Television and Radio Network. The broadcast featured a video by a 17-year-old individual, Muhammed Riyad, before he stabbed five people on a train in Germany and was subsequently killed by security forces. In the video, he brandished a knife, boasted about...

At the present time, there are no direct rules preventing gender stereotyping in advertising. The nearest thing is if under the Committee of Advertising Practice Code (CAP Code) the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is of the opinion that an advertisement is likely to cause "serious or widespread offence". Thus, the ASA has banned advertisements that objectify or inappropriately sexualise women and girls or suggest it is acceptable for young women to be unhealthily thin. However, the ASA has generally taken the view that depictions of stereotypical gender roles or ads that mock people for not...

On 19 July 2017, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in Khuja (formerly PNM) v Times, on whether an injunction should be granted preventing the media from identifying an individual who had been named in open court during criminal proceedings. Mr Khuja was arrested on the basis of a witness statement that someone with the same commonly used first name as Mr Khuja was involved in sexual offences against children. The witness failed to identify Mr Khuja at an identity parade. Mr Khuja was not charged, although others were. At their trial, evidence was given stating that someone with the same...

A Memorandum of Understanding has been agreed setting out the relations between the UK Government, the Scottish Government and Parliament, and Ofcom, the UK communications regulator. The background to this was the Smith Commission report on further devolution to Scotland in 2014, which recommended that the power to approve Ofcom appointments to the board of MG Alba, the Gaelic language media service, should rest solely with the Scottish Ministers, not with UK ministers. It also proposed a formal consultative role for the Scottish Government and Parliament in setting priorities for Ofcom in Scotland,...

On 1 May 2017, the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee published its report concerning how social media companies, including YouTube, Google, and Twitter, were policing their sites and taking suitable action to remove illegal content that constituted a hate crime. The Committee concluded that overall the social media companies were “shamefully far” from tackling illegal and dangerous content. The Committee recommended that the Government consult on stronger laws and a system of fines for companies failing to remove illegal content. The Committee’s enquiry was announced in July 2016 following...