NED (Member) – Advisory Committee on Disinformation and Misinformation

Requirements of the role

To apply, your application MUST include a CV and a covering letter – in written or equivalent accessible format. Your application must specifically explain how you meet the key competencies for the role which are detailed in the Essential Competencies section below, have an understanding of the role and demonstrate that you have relevant transferable skills. Covering letters should be no more than four sides of A4 in length. For further information please contact resourcing@Ofcom.org.uk.

Ofcom is the regulator for the UK communications sector. As a part of our remit, we have responsibilities to make online services safer for the people who use them. We also have media literacy responsibilities to inform and enable people to use, understand and create media and communications across multiple formats and services.

Ofcom is accountable to the UK Parliament but is independent of the UK Government. We make our regulatory decisions independently.

To support our work, we are looking to appoint Members for Ofcom’s new Advisory Committee on Disinformation and Misinformation, which is a statutory body we are required to establish under Section 152 of the Online Safety Act of 2023.

Purpose of the role and our approach to establishing the Committee

All members serving on the Committee are appointed by Ofcom’s Board. The Online Safety Act requires the Committee to provide advice to Ofcom on:

• how providers of regulated services should deal with disinformation and misinformation on such services;
• the exercise of our transparency powers so far as relating to disinformation and misinformation (under section 77 of the Online Safety Act); and
• the exercise of our media literacy functions (under section 11 of the Communications Act) in relation to countering disinformation and misinformation on regulated services across Ofcom’s work.

We are initially aiming to create a small, expert panel to provide input into our work related to these areas. To support effective engagement, we anticipate that Members will meet collectively 2-3 times a year and be available to support, advise and constructively challenge issues we bring to the Committee, as required.

We expect the Committee to act as a critical friend, advising us to ensure that our work is grounded in evidence, takes into consideration the interests of UK online users, and considers the impacts of our work on regulated services. Committee members will bring their own experience and expertise to contribute to the Committee’s work programme.

We recognise the importance of transparency in our work. As with all of our advisory bodies, we will publish the Committee’s terms of reference, code of conduct, member biographies, and high-level minutes of meetings.

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