Ofcom appoints yet another group director

Natalie Black CBE is the newest member of the senior team, her gong affirming Ofcom’s preference for establishment figures. Black was a government Trade Commissioner from 2018 to 2023 and before that was Deputy Head of the Number 10 Policy Unit, Director of the Office of Cyber Security and, perhaps most tellingly, Director of the Internet Harms Unit.

“It is a privilege to be appointed as Group Director, Networks and Communications, and to play a role in ensuring that people get the most out of their networks and services, which are fundamental to opportunity and economic growth,” said Black. Presumably one of the ways to ensure that is to censor content that might harm them.

“I am delighted to welcome Natalie to Ofcom,” said Ofcom Chief Exec Melanie Dawes. “She brings a wealth of leadership experience from both the UK and abroad, and her expertise in issues ranging from cyber security to online harms will be invaluable. Whether it is championing the interests of consumers or equipping Ofcom for the risks and opportunities brought by AI, I’m confident that Natalie will make a huge contribution to ensuring that communications work for everyone.”

Curiously neither of them thought to mention Lindsey Fussell, whose job title on the Ofcom site and LinkedIn is Group Director for Networks and Communications. Perhaps we’re underappreciating the significance of replacing ‘for’ with a comma, but those seem like the same job to us. This just adds to the impression that Black has mainly been appointed to further augment Ofcom’s online censorship remit.

It has long been clear that money is no object in the pursuit of online safety. In the year ended 31 March 2023, before much of the online safety team was formed, Ofcom spent £108 million on staff costs. Fussell trousered £268,550 in base salary that year so Black is presumably on that at least, but presumably more, with the online safety skillset apparently commanding a premium over passé tasks such as regulating the telecoms sector.

Ofcom was spending over £100 million on staff even before its recent 50% headcount jump, undertaken in the name of online safety. So, presumably, it now needs to find another £50 mil a year from somewhere. On the 22/23 annual report home page Ofcom selected its collection of £1.2 billion in fees and penalties as one of its choicest datapoints. It will be interesting to see what happens to that figure as the online safety operations continue to ramp up.