Implementation of the Online Safety Act has just got going, leaving ex-chair of Channel 4 with a huge task on his hands

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Ian Cheshire’s Ofcom in-tray is big. It is available online under the regulator’s plan for 2026-27 and covers an array of industries: telecoms, broadband, the postal service, media and the online world.

It is the latter that is going to dominate his tenure as chair. Ofcom oversees the Online Safety Act, the legislation that regulates social media in the UK. Much is expected of the act from internet safety campaigners, and a bit less from freedom of speech advocates, which leaves Cheshire in a difficult place.