The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is responsible for upholding information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals. New Zealander Edwards has been a vocal critic of social media companies and has deleted his Facebook, claiming it breached privacy laws in his own country. In the wake of the Christchurch massacre in 2019, which had been livestreamed on Facebook, Edwards hit out at the company in a series of tweets which have since been deleted. He said: 'The Twitter and Facebook bans are arbitrary, cynical, unprincipled and further evidence that regulation of social media platforms is urgently required. News of his potential appointment comes as the UK continues to mount pressure on social media companies to tackle online abuse and harmful misinformation on their platforms.

Source: The Nation July 25, 2021 08:26 UTC