UK: Online platforms need new regulator says parliament report

According to a report from TechCrunch, the latest policy recommendations for regulating powerful Internet platforms comes from a UK House of Lords committee that’s calling for an overarching digital regulator to be set up to plug gaps in domestic legislation and work through any overlaps of rules.

“The digital world does not merely require more regulation but a different approach to regulation,” the committee wrotes in a report published on Saturday, March 9, saying the government has responded to “growing public concern” in a piecemeal fashion, whereas “a new framework for regulatory action is needed.”

It suggests a new body, which it’s dubbed the Digital Authority, be established to “instruct and coordinate regulators.”

“The Digital Authority would have the remit to continually assess regulation in the digital world and make recommendations on where additional powers are necessary to fill gaps,” the committee wrotes, saying that it would also “bring together non-statutory organizations with duties in this area,” so presumably bodies such as the recently created Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation.