David Vance SubstackRead More
You will recall UK PM Sir Keir Starmer sitting in the Oval Office with US President Trump and V-P JD Vance and insisting how committed the UK was to free speech.
Got that? Free Speech is SO IMPORTANT to Starmer. He sat there and lied.
Now read this….
Yes, I have a BitChute channel (!) but Bitchute has ceased its operations in the UK as of today. This decision marks a significant shift for a platform that positioned itself as an alternative to mainstream services like YouTube, emphasising free speech and minimal content moderation.
The primary reason for this withdrawal is the regulatory pressure imposed by the UK’s Orwellian Online Safety Act which has fundamentally altered the operational landscape for digital platforms in the country.
The Online Safety Act, allegedly enacted to enhance user protection from harmful online content, imposes stringent requirements on platforms to monitor and remove material deemed illegal or harmful, such as “hate speech”, terrorist propaganda, and “misinformation”.
For BitChute, a platform that has historically attracted users and creators banned from other sites for controversial content, compliance with these regulations presented a formidable challenge. The Act mandates proactive content moderation, enhanced reporting mechanisms, and accountability measures, which clashed with BitChute’s ethos of prioritising creator freedom over restrictive oversight. The company announced that after evaluating the regulatory environment, it found the compliance burden too onerous to sustain its operations in the UK.
This move follows years of pressure from UK authorities and left wing advocacy groups. Extreme activist organisations like Hope Not Hate have long criticised BitChute for hosting content that it didn’t like. In 2021, BitChute introduced rules against “incitement to hatred” in response to consultations with Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, and joined initiatives like Tech Against Terrorism. However, incidents such as the spread of Buffalo shooting footage in 2022 exposed weaknesses in its moderation capabilities, prompting further regulatory pressure. Ofcom’s concerns about inadequate reporting tools and limited moderation resources led BitChute to triple its moderation team and extend operational hours, but even ALL these changes were evidently insufficient to meet the escalating demands of the 2023 Act.
The decision to exit the UK reflects a broad tension between free speech platforms and tightening European regulation. This emerging smacks of a “North Korean-style censorship” but rather than being forcibly shut down, BitChute simply chose to discontinue services, likely in order to preserve its model elsewhere,
For us British users, this means the loss of a great platform that, despite its controversies, offered an alternative space for unfiltered expression. If you use a VPN, you can still access the platform – I know, I have tried! But many people don’t have a VPN. The broader implication is a shrinking digital landscape for dissenting voices in Europe, as similar regulatory frameworks emerge across the EU, signalling a challenging future for platforms unwilling or unable to adapt to heightened oversight. Free Speech is being silenced and that may even include here!
I will continue to speak up fearlessly and hope you may consider me worthy of YOUR support!
****If you enjoy all the content that I put out here every day, can I ask you to consider to becoming a PAID subscriber, it’s only £5 a month, you can cancel if you don’t enjoy it but I know you will. I want to thank the kind people who already do this, without your help this becomes impossible. Thank you in anticipation***
Views: 43
