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Zia Yusuf warns of censorship becoming 'normalised' amid new online safety laws
Jul 28, 2025
Zia Yusuf has warned of an attack on online free speech, claiming Britain is being "plunged into a Chinese-style surveillance state".Speaking to GB News, the Chair of Reform UK's DOGE Unit tore into the "Orwellian" legislation of the Online Safety Act, following the introduction of new rules.FULL STORY HERE.
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0:00
Lots to get through, including the Online Safety Act, which you have highlighted two key parts amongst the litany of outrage
0:07
but two key particular parts of this which have caused you big concern. Just explain what they are
0:11
Yeah, well, I want to make sure everyone watching this programme understands that this Online Safety Act
0:16
Orwellianly named, is plunging this country into a Chinese style surveillance state
0:21
And so the two key things I want to flag inside the Act section 44, which allows the Secretary of State
0:27
to unilaterally force Ofcom to change the rules about what needs to be censored and what doesn't
0:32
without an act of parliament, without a vote. So basically, it's a death knell of democracy in that respect
0:37
The second one is Section 179, which is even more insidious. What it does is make it illegal to say something that is false
0:44
that causes, and I quote, non-trivial psychological harm. And it's not just making that illegal
0:50
It is forcing social media companies to proactively censor that speech. And the penalties that are being imposed on these social media companies are things like 10 percent of global revenues and potentially criminal sanction for management
1:05
So what's that going to do, Ben? It's going to create an incentive structure for social media companies to over censor, because that's a rational thing to do if you're trying to protect shareholder value
1:14
And we've already seen in the less than 48, I think 36 hours since this thing has come into force
1:20
we've seen protests against migrant hotels in Leeds being actively censored. On X, by the way, and X is, thanks to Elon, supposed to be the last bastion of free speech
1:31
And we seeing tweets which criticize immigration being censored And now the Telegraph reported last night the Prime Minister has brought about a quote and I quote an elite police force
1:44
not to protect British people from illegal migrants and the crime they're committing
1:48
but to monitor anti-migrant activity. We are slipping into a world which would frankly make Xi Jinping blush
1:56
Two really shocking points there. The sort of censoring of the migrant protests on X, for example
2:02
do you think that fell under the second point you mentioned there, which is non-physical psychological harms
2:08
Non-trivial psychological harms. So, yeah, exactly. So this is a totally different threshold to incitement of violence
2:13
which is one thing. Now the threshold is literally hurting someone's feelings, right
2:17
But here's the point, Ben. What's happening now... No, so what that comes under in terms of the act is, quote
2:23
harmful content. And I quote, in some cases, it actually talks about legal but harmful
2:29
And just before the camera started rolling, we were having a conversation. You said, who determines that
2:33
And I'll tell you who will determine that. The very last people, the people watching this program
2:37
would want determining it. And I want to remind the viewers, I want to remind the viewers, as much as Keir Starmer is an abomination
2:43
and we despise this Labour government, it was the Tories who created this whole situation
2:49
It was the Tories who voted it through pretty much unanimously, including the likes of Generic
2:54
including the likes of Braverman, the ones who now present themselves as anti all of this stuff
2:58
They voted all of this stuff through. And I want to emphasize, if we don't do something about this quickly
3:03
it is going to be normalized. And I'm telling you, these social media companies, even X, even X with the might of Elon behind him
3:10
is going to be no match for the brutality and the power of the British state
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