Dr Peter Coe is the Editor in Chief of Communications Law: The Journal of Computer, Media and Telecommunications Law.
This is included in our Intellectual Property and IT Law service.
I don’t think there is one ‘big’ or ‘main’ threat to the regulations of communications in the UK. Rather, we are faced with a variety of different challenges (and opportunities) to our public sphere posed by technology and modes of communication. These include the more obvious challenges posed by, for instance, AI, deepfakes, the ownership of social media platforms, and how those platforms proliferate online harms. But they also include challenges that are perhaps less obvious, such as the impact social media platforms are having on the health of the press, and how, it seems SLAPPs are on the ascendency.
Because ‘communications law’ covers such a broad variety of disciplines it is not easy to identify particular emerging trends. Rather, we will continue to see, for example, significant developments (legislative, in practice, and in scholarship) relating to AI, the Online Safety Act regime, and data protection. For instance, the impact of the Data (Use and Access) Bill, if enacted, on the UK’s adequacy decision will be interesting to follow.
The shape and impact of the full Online Safety regime, as it emerges through Ofcom’s roadmap to regulation, over the next 12-18 months will be interesting from both a domestic (eg how the platforms implement it, and how Ofcom regulates those platforms) and international perspective (ie whether the Online Safety Act and its regulatory regime forms a blueprint for other jurisdictions). In particular, it will be fascinating to see in the age of Musk et al, the extent to which platforms comply with the regime, and the robustness of Ofcom’s response.
