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House of Lords statement signals retreat in Online Safety Bill privacy row

Chamber of the House of Lords
Photo: Dan Kitwood – WPA Pool/Getty Images

Clash with tech companies averted, but worries remain that threat to privacy has not gone away.

The UK government appears to have back-pedalled on controversial provisions in its proposed Online Safety Bill that critics said posed a serious threat to privacy.

Clauses tabled in the Bill, which has been undergoing scrutiny in the country’s second chamber, would have forced messaging apps to access users’ private messages